Home from MO!

Woody seems to have had an enjoyable time at his reunion.  He said that he talked the whole evening (a phenomenon in and of itself!) with folk from his past.  He ended up having to drive back to the hotel in really torrential rain.

We got up yesterday morning, ate breakfast at the hotel, and headed out for the zoo.  As we got nearer to the zoo the darker and more threatening the sky became.  It started raining pretty hard just a little before we got there.  We parked and waited it out till there was a let up in the rain.

Here's the view of the zoo from the car when we first parked!
If you get to the zoo early enough you can
park free along the side of the road...we were parked
 quite close to the entrance.

Here's the duck that I attempted to take a picture
 of in the rain...first animal I saw on our trip to the zoo!

Woody read and I tried to take pictures of ducks out my side window!  When it finally let up a bit, we headed toward the entrance.  That entrance happened to be one that takes you into a large building that houses a gift shop, etc. so we could stand around and stay dry...which was a good thing as it began pouring again.  Once it let up again we headed to the nearest animal area that was covered which happened to be the insectarium...so we looked at various creepy crawlies for a while and went into the butterfly dome.  When we came out the rain had finally stopped and we were able to go on with our zoo visit with no more rain...the only things wet were the benches so a bit hard to stop and rest weary bones and/or change a lens or battery.  A lot of the animals were holed up due to the rains so some we didn't see, but I managed to take quite a few pictures and got some that are good enough to share! Some of the animals actually posed, as the zebra did in tonight's blog photo.  We spent 3 1/2 hours at the zoo and then headed on down the road towards home.  We stopped in IL at a Steak and Shake (mmmmmmmmmmm!) and had lunch...a popular place obviously, as we had a bit of a wait...we rarely go out to eat on Sunday so we don't know much about the after church crowds! But the wait was worth it.  I had a yummy hamburger and Woody really enjoyed his Strawberry shake (he said that it was the best of the shakes that he had had on this trip).  Then we got back on the road.  We got home around 7pm with no rain except on our way to and while at the zoo.

I have done absolutely nothing today...except go through pictures and pull the best into one place on the computer so Woody could look at a "slide show." I have dozed off several times and took a rather long nap this afternoon.  Woody seems less affected by the trip than I.  He got back into routine and walked his four-mile route this morning.

As I type this I am hearing rumbles of thunder in the background...so storms rolling our way...or so it sounds.
Tomorrow we will be "on the road again" heading to Vanderbilt.  He will have his baseline lab work done and see Dr. Sosman's nurse practitioner in the clinic.  Hopefully these won't be long appointments...but one never knows with Vanderbilt appointments.