It hasn't rained by us since, I don't know, February? Just this week as we drove to school past several almond orchards finishing their shaking and harvest, we could literally see the dust hanging in the air. And each night when we turn on the window fans we get to enjoy not just cool nighttime breezes, but also enough junk in the air to make all our eyes and throats itchy. That first cleansing rain of the season is always an extremely welcome sight.
For all of our birthdays this year, Mom and Dad gave each family a zoo membership. Cool gift, huh? Especially for those of us who love taking outings and are always looking for a great Saturday getaway! We decided to finally venture out of the house for something other than church, school or errands and break in the new zoo membership today...the day we also got the first torrential downpour that we've had in about half a year!
We saw that it was going to rain in the forecast, but assumed it would be a drizzly sort of rain. Nope, this was the kind of rain you can't see anything in, even when the wipers are swishing back and forth on high speed. When we pulled into the zoo, they warned us that that'd probably be closing it early, but we decided to just go for it. We bought some awesome neon, animal-covered ponchos in the gift shop and huddled under our one big umbrella as we ran from enclosure to enclosure. (And PS in California, every animal exhibit it outside. Only the reptile house offered us shelter.) Even with the ponchos and umbrella, we were totally soaked all the way through in about 2 minutes. We made a choice to just keep going, though, and accept the fact that we were wet and going to get wetter. The rain came down so fast, the hard ground couldn't absorb it and some parts of the zoo flooded, the paths became actual rivers. We just tromped right through.
And you know what? This ended up being one of the best zoo days ever! We had so much fun laughing over the downpour and our insanity for being outside in it. We, and maybe 10 others, had the zoo to ourselves! The animals were fantastic to watch today too-- extra frisky and appearing to enjoy the first rain of the season just as much as we humans do. We saw playful elephants splashing and spraying in their pool (probably adopting our same thought: "Hey, I'm already wet..."), we saw baboons playing a fierce and noisy game of tag. We saw giant fruit bats stretching all the way out and doing the twist while hanging upside-down.
Back at home, we all pulled off our sopping shoes and socks to reveal pruney, wrinkled toes desperate for some warm, wool socks. We quickly filled up the washing machine with clothes that look like they've already been through a cycle. And I have not a single picture on my camera because I couldn't risk pulling it out in the heavy rain. It was such a great and memorable day. I wonder if the next trip to the zoo with our new membership will seem too dry and boring after this one! :)
So, thanks for super day today and others in the future, Mom and Dad!
2 comments:
OK, I hope you'll find this funny, since you went to the zoo for your birthday, and since you teach little kids:
Happy birthday to you!
You live in a zoo!
You look like a monkey!
You smell like one, too!
OK, none of that is true, but I do hope you have a great birthday, and your post reminded me of that terrible song. :)
We LOVED the rain, too. I chose to stay nice and warm and DRY in my house, but my kiddos were outside jumping in puddles. I'm so glad you had a memorable zoo visit. Cool and rainy seems like the perfect weather conditions for the four-legged creatures at the zoo -- and the two-legged ones got the benefit of sticking it out:-)
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