Day 2 Part 2! The Minnesota Zoo 9-14-13 Saturday
Oh yeah! We went to the Minnesota Zoo
It was an hour drive to get to Apple Valley, my GPS took us
to the receiving entrance and I may have been a little disgruntled that Google
maps would be unable to get me to the right entrance when I clearly typed the
address of the Zoo. Why does it not assume I am a visitor and provide me a
route to the visitors entrance? Good question!
We got there, found out the price to get in was $20 a person
plus $7 for parking. An outrageous price if I don’t say so myself. Then upon
entering the Zoo it was hard to not notice that every twenty feet or so there
was a sign asking you to donate more money. Let me tell you. I feel I donated
enough money thank you. All in all I was disappointed by the zoo. I remember when
I was young I used to think the zoo was a magical land almost mythical in
nature. To see this same mythical place now as an adult, somewhat disappointing.
There were the animals roaming around but there were a few animals I genuinely
felt terrible for. For example there was a tapir that was running back and
forth in his pen. I don’t think his pen was big enough. He also obviously knew
the place his keeper would enter as he kept running to that door, making a
bizarre whistle sound then running back to the water fountain and back to the
entrance again. I sat there watching for a moment curious at the situation
before I finally had a thought in my head. I bet that poor tapir knows he’s
being watched. I bet that this poor beast doesn’t like being watched. As though
he’s self conscious of his image. I noticed the tapir had no where to go for
privacy and understood its plight. I would hate to be kept in a gilded cage
with all of my needs met if that meant others could watch me at all times.
Constantly checking in on me. I effectively am the big brother to that tapir.
He’s forced to sit in his cage for my amusement. I think I would rather be free
and risk the danger associated with it than be safe and stuck in a cage. I also
went to the farm where they had the cows collared to a bar their movement
restricted. I found that to be atrocious as well. My grandparents kept cows and
my uncles still do, but they are allowed to roam around the fields and are
generally protected from predators. Here at this place they couldn’t even stand
up. I was surprised this was permissible as I would have considered it animal
cruelty. Why weren’t they free range?
Then we went to the goat pen. I love goats! They are like
puppies with hooves and a strong yet unpleasant smell. You can bet I scratched
as many necks as possible and rubbed as many horns as I could. Goats are
F@#king Awesome! Should I ever be a millionaire, I will have a goat and I will
give him a ridiculously stupid name.
After the zoo we discussed the possibility of dinner. Being
only a half hour north of Stillwater we decided it would be a grand old time if
we drove to this place called the gaust haus which served German food. I had
wanted to try that restaurant since I was in high school and we drove down
there to find that they were celebrating Octoberfest. Nut and I were giddy as
we are both quite huge fans of that holiday. We were flagged to a parking spot
and walked up to the gaust haus. We walked up the stairs, Elyssa took note that
they were speaking in German. Nut looked for his photo ID so that he and I
could proceed to enjoy the local octoberfest microbrews. We triumphantly walked
into the restaurant in shock at our wonderful fortune. I noticed on the way in
that all of the men were wearing lederhosen and alpine hats and one of them
even winked at me. The women were wearing dirndl. The traditional dress worn in
Germany. This was going to be a wonderful experience!
Then we promptly left
as there were no tables until 8:00 pm without a reservation. I was unwilling to
wait for two hours for a table and Elyssa was not in the mood for basket food.
I also did not have access to cash that I could spend as all the cash I
currently had belonged to Shawn. (half of the check I cashed earlier belonged
to him) We left with our head sunk low and tried to find another place to go
and eat. We found another German restaurant fairly close by and drove to it.
Nut called ahead to see if there were tables available and when we arrived we
were pleased to see that this place too looked like a German restaurant we could eat at. We knew for a fact we would
be able to get a table right away and saw that they too had a microbrew on tap.
They too were celebrating a small version of octoberfest. There was no
traditional clothing being worn but the sign on the door was in German. Nut and
I let out a small cheer as we walked in and looked around! Then we promptly
left as this place only accepted cash and check. It was ridiculous. Who in this
day and age doesn’t accept a credit card. I just about shat myself. Elyssa by
this time was obviously annoyed and Nut was stoic and I a bit somber. With our
egos obviously bruised we walked back to Elyssa’s car and decided we would
drive home. Maybe we would stop somewhere in St. Paul as Stillwater clearly did
not want to take our money this evening.
On the way home we found a resteraunt called Josephs. Still
in Stillwater (hah! Sort of a pun!) I mentioned that it looked sort of like a
Perkins but as none of us had heard of it before we decided to give it a
chance. It wasn’t a German looking restaurant but hey. It could be a good time.
We walked in and Elyssa intelligently inquired as to whether they accepted
Credit Cards. The man behind the counter replied with, “What kind of cards?
Playing or credit?” and I chuckled a little bit as he sat us. Our waitress took
our order and we proceeded to pig out. I was very relieved when we got home
that we had burned more calories than we put in. I wanted to get pie but Nut
and Elyssa were full from the food that had already eaten. The food was really
good. I determined that Josephs is best described as a restaurant somewhere
between a ma and pop small town restaurant with Baker square and Perkins. Their
specialty was pies and I feel it’s tragic that I didn’t get the opportunity to
try it. I think we may try to go back to the gaust haus next week with a reservation
though. We picked trying a German restaurant because it is something different
from what we normally eat. I in fact don’t know that I have ever really had “authentic
German cuisine” Also, next week I will have cash that is actually my cash.
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