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26 Jul 16, 10:20 AM
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Boston and Washington - Spring 2016 - Day 9 (PANDAS at the National Zoo, Museums, National Mall)
This is my first trippie (please be gentle)...
 Trippie Index Here Day 8 Here What: Boston, Washington D.C. and Baltimore When: Spring 2016 Who: Me (April) Picturing Pandas DH (R.C.) Getting Lost (! ) DS (Pooter) Aged 9, Wearing a Woman’s Hat Day 9 - National Zoo (Pandas and Frank Zappa), Natural History Museum, National Mall, Free Dinner Today was R.C.’s last full day with us; he had to fly back to London tomorrow. Poot asked if we could all go to the zoo. Breakfast first, though. After the scenes last night, I was wary of the breakfast room this morning, but people seemed less loot-y than they had the night before... It was a pretty typical American hotel breakfast - lots of cold bits, and then pancakes, scrambled eggs, ham, oatmeal, etc...There were also two or three waffle makers.   What there was NOT was plain Greek yogurt, just nasty sugar yogurt. ALL American yogurt tastes like ectoplasm…  ...so if I’m going to have it, I at least want to know it isn’t full of sugar. I like to save my calories for CHOCOLATE, thank you very much.  Credit to the VERY hard-working kitchen staff at the Residence Inn, one of whom overheard me saying to Poot that there wasn’t any plain yogurt… ...and then went in the back and dished up a portion from the room service supplies. She hunted up our table and presented me with it. Thank you, kind lass!  So I had ham and Greek yogurt (yep, ectoplasm  ) with fruit. R.C. had his usual three course hotel breakfast…...first tea with cereal. Then more tea with toast. Then a third cup of tea with eggs and ham. Poot had ham and fruit and two (English) muffins. (Poot and I ducked out during R.C.’s “toast course” so that he could watch a few minutes of his beloved Weather Channel.)  Whenever we had commercial telly on, I was DESPERATELY grateful that the political ads hadn’t started yet - I can still remember some of the ones from (autumn) 2014…Who else remembers this gem?  ...I can’t even BEGIN to imagine the ads we’re in for THIS autumn…  R.C. thinks that some Englishmen should make a parody advert with Trump and Clinton… ...Hey, America, I bet the Queen’s looking pretty good right now…  Thanks to the Weather Channel, we knew it was unseasonably cold outside. I let Poot borrow my fleece beret and skating mittens - R.C. had his hideous Gorbachev hat. I just planned to keep my hood up and my hands in my sleeves. ___________________________ The National Zoo is easy to find. It’s a ten or so minute walk (uphill) from (the Red Line’s) Woodley Park Station. You can also get off at Cleveland Park - the walk is flat from there.  There was security paraphernalia tucked away behind a little cabin as we walked into the zoo, but the cabin was empty and there were no security checks (yay!). The National Zoo, like all the National Museums - is free! We just walked right in. I don’t know how many people were at the zoo that day, but it couldn’t have been more than two or three hundred - the paths were empty... It was a little eerie (and a lot AWESOME!).  Take me to your...pandas... EDIT: The BBC ran a documentary on Wednesday, 27 July that features the National Zoo panda(s). It's called "Super Cute Animals" and is well worth catching on iPlayer. I don’t know what it is about them, but I’ve always been fascinated by pandas - and the National Zoo had a BABY panda born in 2015.  I was very keen to see him, if we possibly could. I had done very little research before this trip because of Poot’s tumour and surgery - but I knew that the panda habitat’s hours are unpredictable, so as to ensure the wellbeing of the animals. I was DELIGHTED to see that the habitat was open - the zoo has done a wonderful job and built a little path and cave - I’m not sure it felt like China, but it definitely didn’t feel like DC! I knew the pandas were important to the zoo - but I practically laughed out loud when I saw the PANDA BOUNCER.  This poor chap was stationed just outside the habitat - what a job! Seriously, he was wearing security gear...it was weird. Or sad (have people tried to kidnap the pandas?), I’m not sure... It was so cold (and therefore QUIET) today that he didn’t have to check the guest list too many times; instead he was put to good use handing out free panda stickers.  The baby panda (Bei Bei) was up in a little tree-type structure.  His mother was wandering around nearby.  Dad was kicking back and eating bamboo...  And yay! for the zoo guests that day, all of whom were so quiet and respectful around the little one (Bei Bei). I really dislike the Dudley Dursley types…(but they appeared later…  ) I could have watched the pandas for hours - R.C. and Poot were ready to move on. Now I know there are pandas in Scotland - WHY have we never gotten up there to see them? We’ve all seen zoos before, so I won’t bore you with too many photos, but I will tell a few funny/weird/frustrating stories from the day. The Weird Story or: Dursleys in Veils We were enjoying a little keeper talk in the aviary (where it was WARM) - the zookeeper was holding a scarlet macaw, and telling his story. He had been abused and then dumped at the zoo…  It had taken THREE YEARS for the bird to become comfortable enough with this particular keeper to perch on a stick that she held. The macaw was a messy eater...  While the keeper was speaking a group of Saudi women pushed to the front of the little crowd. One demanded, “When do we get to stroke it?”. The keeper tried to explain (again) WHAT SHE HAD JUST SAID about the abuse, and the time it had taken to get the bird to trust her, etc… At which point the interrupter said, “What birds CAN we pet? What kind of zoo is this, if we can’t even touch the animals?!”  The poor keeper...but she was rescued by a BIG African American guy, who said, “I’ll tell you what kind of zoo this ain’t, lady - it ain’t no PETTING zoo.” One member of our party (me) might have let out a little BARK of laughter, others (with better manners) just chuckled. The strokers stomped off, indignant. It was just such a weird experience... The Funny Story: We wandered into the Reptile House at some point. I encouraged this wander as I figured the reptiles would need HEAT. Ah, blessed warmth. The house seemed empty, and we let Poot walk on ahead of us with the camera, photographing lizards. After a little while, I couldn’t see Poot, he had disappeared around a corner - but I heard his little piping voice - and then, a couple of minutes later - I heard him singing “Valley Girl”...and then I heard other people singing with him... I decided I’d better see what was happening… ...out of the corner of my eye I noticed R.C. giving me the look that means, “He sings in reptile houses because of YOU”. R.C. is right... Edited at 10:50 AM. |
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26 Jul 16, 12:41 PM
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Poot was having a sing-along with a bunch of goth kids…they looked something like this:
 He is nine, and was wearing his mother’s hat. He looked like this:  It was so incongruous - What could I do? I just started laughing! Poot: Mother! This lady (points at young woman wearing dog collar) knows who Frank Zappa is! Me: Uh, huh...snort...heeheehee….snort...oh, Poot...heehee… Never met a stranger, that boy.  Apparently, one of the kids had spotted Poot’s Frank Zappa badge and asked him about it. I’m not quite sure how this led to “Valley Girl” being performed in the Reptile House, but I’m glad it did. If we could all see the world with the eyes of children, eh? Zoo Food: We REALLY wanted to eat lunch INSIDE - it didn’t seem to be getting any warmer. The only inside food choice was “The Mane Grill", near the big cats' enclosure.   It did not look terribly promising - lots of pre-made nuggets/fries baskets sitting out under heat lamps.  I pasted on my most winning smile and tried to win over the lady behind the counter. Normally in America I send R.C. and his ladykiller accent on missions like this one - but he always claims to be “confused” by quick service-type restaurants. He and Poot were already sitting down and warming their hands in front of a warm air vent. Hmm... Me: Heavens, it’s cold out there! Nugget Lady: Mm-hmm. Me: I’d really like something HOT today. Any chance of something being cooked up fresh so it’s nice and hot? Nugget Lady: Way-ell...I suppose we don’t have any grilled chicken sandwiches up - I could get you a couple of those… Me (pushing my luck): With some nice fresh french fries? Nugget Lady: Oh, Hell - why not? Why not indeed? Thank you, Nugget Lady! I’m not sure how good lunch would have been lukewarm, but hot it was like manna from heaven. The Frustrating Story: Thus fortified we were off again, towards the sea lions and “Amazonia”. Here’s where it all went wrong. Somehow, we got separated from R.C. - we could not find him anywhere.  This is an ongoing issue in our family. So far, R.C. has wandered off at: Wembley Stadium Discovery Cove Wrest Park (3) Different Targets Am I the only one who knows - IF YOU GET SEPARATED go back to the last place you were together? The Zoo is huge... Eventually I saw a zoo employee with a radio and explained what had happened. He was rather nonplussed to be consulted and thought that R.C. had dementia and was wandering around the zoo, confused. He did offer to put out a “Vulnerable Adult Alert”.  I toyed with the idea of letting him.  He promised to send R.C. to the zoo entrance should he encounter him. Poot and I began the long trudge back uphill (the National Zoo is laid out a bit like Legoland Windsor - so downhill to get in, but uphill to get out) - with Poot sadly concluding, “We should put Dad on some kind of Dad-leash…” Eventually, after 45 minutes of searching, we found him - limping and chagrined… “I thought I saw a wolf…” What?!  Seeing him limp made me forget my annoyance (hmm...maybe he does it on purpose!) I decided we’d better get him back to the hotel. He wouldn’t let me hail a taxi, so we made our way slowly down the hill and back to the Woodley Park Metro station.  Poor chap, he was REALLY limping as we walked up to the hotel. R.C. was diagnosed with his rheumatoid arthritis nine years ago, and has FAR FEWER issues than many, but I still hate seeing him in pain. ------------------------------------------------------- Poot has boundless energy, and he wasn’t yet ready to call it a day. So we two walked back to the National Mall and over to the Natural History Museum.  I knew what that meant… ...meteorites.
Edited at 11:14 PM. |
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26 Jul 16, 01:13 PM
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And...Wow! Do you KNOW how many meteorites the Natural History Museum has on display?
Too. Darn. Many. I tell myself (because it’s true) that THIS IS LOVE, being excited about the things that delight our children. Ooh - yes, Poot - that meteorite IS shiny!  Oh, my - that’s a sharp meteorite!  No, Poot - I DEFINITELY wouldn’t want that meteorite to fall on OUR house.  Mercifully, the museum closed at 5:30. Thank you, Lord. Poot and I then wandered back in the general direction of our hotel, stopping to look at the sights on the Mall. National Gallery Fountain  Poot in front of the National Gallery  Stupid Scaffolding on the Capitol!  I don’t suppose it matters - since Poot looks like “The Fly”-era Bono in this picture anyway.  Back at the Residence Inn, R.C. was working, but ready for dinner. We decided to brave the hordes again tonight, because I didn’t want R.C. to have to walk too far. I knew he’d have a lot of walking tomorrow at the airport… Tonight’s meal was all plated for us - no self-service except for the soft drinks. It was still VERY busy, but much more orderly. It was a sort of “deli” dinner - charcuterie, cheeses - the staff was also mixing drinks with several different flavoured syrups. It was absolutely fine (in my head I was adding what we WOULD have spent on a restaurant meal to the money I had allocated to my Target shop). Back in 2002, R.C. and I had been to a GREAT Ethiopian restaurant in Adams Morgan. I had planned to head back that way tonight, but frankly the lure of the free meal (yes, I know - it’s built into the room rate) IN THE WARM HOTEL was just too great. Poot and I visited the pool again (it was empty tonight except for us!) - the hot tub was still green. Off to bed - R.C. goes home tomorrow, so  But...TARGET!, so continued in next post Edited at 11:17 PM. |
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27 Jul 16, 09:17 AM
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continued from previous post
Poot's Day 9: We went to the zoo today . It was very cold - so I had to wear a fuzzy hat !  We first saw the pandas. They were so cute! There was a little baby. His name was Bei Bei! The pandas ate the largest quantities of bamboo. One ate five whole stalks while we were there! Then we went to the reptile house. We met some nice people who wanted to talk about my badges and patches. One had a big collar like a dogfight dog. We tried to find the giant salamander . The giant salamander came from Japan. In Japan there is a story about a hero who slayed an evil salamander beast whose breath caused crop failures . Unfortunately, when the beast was slain, the opening of him caused a crop failure. Luckily a band of very brave people threw the beast into the ocean. Even today, people celebrate this by throwing a model salamander into the ocean. April interrupting here: Has anybody else heard this story? It was new to me! However, we could not see the salamander in the tank. After we looked for the salamander, we went over to the aviary . Inside there were a group of mean women who wanted to pet a hurt parrot. One said something like “What kind of zoo is this if we can’t PET the animals?!” The instructor said that if she tried to pet the parrot she would be pecked. It would serve her right! :angry: Then we saw a captive Baltimore Oriole. It was very pretty. We also saw a Carribean Blue Tanager. We saw many other birds before going to the outside section of the aviary. There we saw many cardinals {American red birds }.  We also saw lots of other birds . After that, we had lunch at The Mane Grill, but not before I found a dollar bill! We had two chicken burgers and some french fries. After that, Dad got lost. We looked in the reptile house, we looked on the American trail (where there was an interesting bald eagle). Then we looked in the seal house before we finally found him at the front gate. Before we left, I saw a mockingbird {wild}.  After we got back to the hotel while Dad was resting, we went over to the Natural History Museum. First we went to see the Hope Diamond. Legend has it that it is cursed because most of the people who owned it died!  Then we saw the meteorite collection. There were hundreds! There were a few which one could sit on, they were so big! The most interesting thing by far was a slice of the K. T. boundary!  The K.T. boundary was formed when an asteroid collided with the Earth 65 million years ago {yes, the dinosaur killing asteroid}. Then we saw a small exhibit about volcanoes where there was a chunk of lava retrieved from Mount Unzen in Japan. Then we left, but not before I bought a postcard. Then we went back to our hotel, had dinner, swam in the pool and went to sleep. The End. Day 10 Here Edited at 10:27 AM. |
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16 Aug 16, 02:29 PM
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Imagineer
 
Join Date: Sep 10
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Wow - I didn't realise they had pandas at the zoo and how fab is it to get in for free?
My daughter loves pandas and we went to Edinburgh at May half term especially to see them, but you have to book a viewing time slot in advance as only so many people are allowed in the panda space at any one time. It looks like things are much more casual there, amazing! That is going on "the list"! Shame your husband has to leave tomorrow
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17 Aug 16, 06:17 PM
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I don't know about Edinburgh, but down here in London a day at the zoo is £££. It was great to see that ALL families could enjoy a really good day out in DC for free. As for DH, we miss him when he has to go, but it also means we can do things he doesn't like (more baseball! Target! CHEESE CURDS!).
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10 Apr 17, 10:32 AM
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Imagineer
Join Date: Nov 02
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How lovely to see pandas
__________________
Sue  June 1996 & 1998 - DLP Camp Davy Crockett August 2000, Oct 2002, Sept 2008 & Sept 2016- DLP Offsite June 2001, August 2003,2007 &Sept 2010 - WDW Offsite June 2005 - DLP Davy Crockett Ranch |
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10 Apr 17, 12:57 PM
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11 Apr 17, 01:59 PM
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Imagineer
 
Join Date: Dec 13
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Ah another similarity between R.C and Nick (fiancé) ... Nick absolutely loves to just wander off, I must lose him at least 3 times per day. He delights in how frustrated I get about it too, so I imagine most of the times he does it on purpose
Chocolate and diet coke? Two of my favourite things also. Very jealous of the pandas, they are absolutely adorable I could have stood and watched them all day! Whilst I was back at university, I worked at a well known high street shoe store and during peak summer and peak winter we would always have groups of Saudi women who would come in and buy up half of our stock to take home for family/friends and I found them insanely rude to us. The store I worked at was very busy and they would not care about who they pushed in front of or interrupted. Someone once told us that in their culture, shop assistants are the lowest in their "food chain" and this is why they were so rude to us, so maybe they feel similarly about zookeepers? (although I have to say I am still not sure why this warrants them being so rude!) Alas, I sadly should go back to doing some actual work, however I will be back at some point to finish! (and at some point I shall make sure to comment on all entries, I promise!) You are definitely inspiring me to stick it out with my own trip report when we get home from our May trip. The last 2 trips I have failed after the pre-trip report! |
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11 Apr 17, 05:02 PM
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That is interesting (and sad) about the shop-assistants...where do you think that poor parrot falls in their great chain of being? Seriously - I know we're supposed to feel bad for people who try and elevate themselves by making others feel small - but I don't. I detest bullies. R.C. can navigate a car to ANYWHERE - without a map. So I just CANNOT understand how he can get lost in Target! The night he wandered off at Wembley I thought he'd been mugged and left for dead - I stopped a policeman to help us. This is your future, lol!I've given up pop for Lent, and I thought by now - in Holy Week - the craving would have passed. But...no. Thanks for checking in - 
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