At the Zoo

"What would you think about taking James to the zoo?"

J's father asked me this on Monday morning as I sat in my pajamas in their kitchen. To my own surprise, I thought it was a great idea. Normally when we visit her parents in Pennsylvania it's over some three day weekend or school break, and I've been performing like some sort of gigging and teaching ping-pong ball for the past two months. We look forward to our Pennsylvania time like a retreat to some remote hideaway where we can sleep in, take naps, stay in our pajamas, and hand off childcare duties. After a month of driving through snowstorms at midnight on the way back from Christmas run-out shows or the week after an quintuple service morning on Easter, all we want to do is REST.

This is why I was sort of pleasantly surprised when I was able to tell J's dad that "Yes, I think that's a great idea!" He is a great outdoors-man and one of my favorite people, so his idea of relaxing is to climb every single mountain on the east coast while building log cabins from scratch on top of poisonous snake-pits. And then maybe a trip to the museum in the afternoon.

I actually have a great time whenever we go climbing or hiking together, but sometimes when I've been looking forward to a couple days off all month it's hard to work up any excitement about changing out of my pajamas. I asked J what she thought, and she also thought it was a great idea. We'd tried to take James to our local zoo a few times before, but something (usually weather) had always gotten in the way. Putting on our most excited parent faces we told James the big news:

"James, guess what? We're going to make a trip to the ZOO tomorrow!"

He didn't look that impressed.

"There will be giraffes! And elephants and monkeys?"

"I wanna see a giraffe."

"You will! And guess what? We're going to ride a train to get there!"

"Oh! I wanna ride Thomas the train."

"Well, I don't think it's going to be Thomas. We're going to ride the Metro."

"Okay, I wanna ride Percy."

The plan was to visit the National Zoo in Washington, DC. Between the chance for a train ride and the free admission, it was the decided winner. Uncle Tim (who James has decided ought to be called Aunt Tim, refusing all dissuasion) came with us, and we set out early in the morning. James asked us multiple times "Where the zoo be?" When we pulled into a local gas station in a small town in Maryland he clapped his hands in excitement and declared. "Yay, it's the zoo!!!" He was wrong, but it was good to know he was getting excited.

I worried that we'd all be in for a cranky day when he threw a temper tantrum about being put in his stroller ("I NEED GET OUT OF THIS STWOOOLER!") as we walked to the Metro station, but after a good cry and a ride up the escalator he settled down again. A few minutes later we were on the platform and boarding the red line. I asked him if he'd like to sit on my lap and look out the window, but he informed me that he needed to stay in his stroller.

We received a running commentary on everything the train did for the next half hour--train is going, train is stopped, doors are opening, doors are gonna close, doors are closed, train is gonna go, train is going--and eventually arrived at the zoo stop.

Dad humored J and I for a Starbucks/bathroom stop, and a barista got smitten with James and gave him a cup filled with chocolate whipped cream. We then finally set out INTO THE ZOO, and the hot sun beat down on us as we walked the opening pavement. (This is not the best way to drink a cup of hot coffee.) We looked for kiosks, and James smeared whipped cream on his face.

Our first animal of the day was a cheetah, but it was hiding in a shaded corner of its pen, and I don't think James ever saw it. I took him out of his stroller so he could get a better look, and he promptly wiggled down. "Daddy, I found a stick!"

Good to know we came all the way to the National Zoo to find a North American Common Stick.

"I'm gonna carry my stick. I'm gonna tap for maple syrup."

He did see a zebra (mildly interesting) but the real magic hit when we saw the elephants. He was transfixed, as I think we all were. They are such graceful animals...how can something that big be that elegant in its movements and carriage? We stayed there awhile (it was air-conditioned) and then made our way to the small mammals, and the monkeys. We saw a placard about how dragonflies mate (see sweetie, that's not pervy, it's NATURE) looked at some enormous tortoises, watched seals swim by in an underwater display, saw some highly evil and shiver-producing venomous snakes, and even saw a couple of bears. There were no giraffes. James didn't mind.

After about an hour an a half he was completely cooked. The heat was oppressive and the zoo got more crowded as the day went on. We were very fortunate to have the stroller. He perked up a bit when we got back on the train (he got his own seat this time) and as we drove back we made an ice cream stop and then all fell asleep.

"How was the zoo?" asked Grandma when we finally arrived back.

"I rode the train!"

"What animals did you see?"

"I had my own seat on my train!"

"Did you see a giraffe?"

"I wanna go back to the TRAIN station!"

And that was how we saw the North American Common Metro Train at the National Zoo.