Gallivanting in Galveston: A Zoo To Do!

Question:  what do Grace and i consider to be an enjoyable outing when everyone else has had to leave and we have a day to do just as we like?

Answer:  we go to the zoo and a vegan restaurant, of course!

Some questions are easy.

Little Ninja and Sunny had to leave Tuesday, Sunny because that's when she had booked her return flights and Little Ninja, because she was Sunny's ride to the airport.

We hugged a lot, since we won't get to see each other probably until next year, and Grace and i waved them off, then got Carmin the Garmin (and yes, i know that i spell Carmin wrong, but my GPS is a diva and the name had to rhyme) and set out for Houston's zoo.

It's a nice zoo.  They have a Komodo dragon with a support brace on its wrist, which is something i thought i would never see.  Red pandas in person were a new one for me, too.  There are zookeeper talks scheduled each day, and we got to see the piranhas fed.  If you ever get to Houston, try to spend a day at the zoo.

By the time we left it was hungry time, so we went to a vegan restaurant Grace had scouted out and, as she said, it's a happy change to go to such a place with a person who isn't just going along to be nice!  Her husband and others she goes to vegan restaurants with let her choose the restaurant often and go to the vegan places where she lives, but she knows they are being nice and giving her a turn to choose the place. This time, the only person she was eating with wanted to be there as much, if not more, than she did!

No, we don't have vegan restaurants where i'm from.  It's not a south Louisiana "thing".

While in the restaurant and driving back, we had swamp weather -- a pop up thunderstorm that rained only on some parts of the city and didn't last long, and didn't cool anything down, but went away soon so you could enjoy the rest of the day.

We returned to the condo happy and waited for it to cool off a bit before walking on the beach.  It's a lovely way to end, since it has to end.  Today is drive home day, so i should be back to my usual soon.

Today is:

Anne Bradstreet Day -- Massachusetts, US (by Proclamation of the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to honor Anne Bradstreet, America’s first poet, who is also recognized as the first published woman poet in the English language)

Cherokee Strip Day -- Oklahoma, US (anniversary of the last land run, in 1893, which opened Native American land to white settlers)

Collect Rocks Day -- i guess it means besides all the ones in my head

Eleven Days of Global Unity -- Day 6, Children & Youth (sponsored by We, the World)

Festival for Ra, Osiris, and Horus -- Ancient Egyptian Calendar (date approximate)

Golden Aspen Motorcycle Rally -- Ruidoso, NM, US (trade show, bike shows, riding tours, skills event, stunt show, parade, and fun; through Sunday)

Hari Taika/Teej -- Nepal (special holiday for Female Employees Only, to celebrate a special, traditional women's festival)

Independence Day -- Malaysia(1963); Mexico(1910); Nicaragua; Papua New Guinea(1975)

International Day for the Preservation of the Ozone Layer -- UN (commemorates the signing, in 1987, of the Montreal Protocol on Substances that Deplete the Ozone Layer)

Martyrs' Day -- Libya

Mayflower Day -- the ship left England on this day in 1620

National Championship Air Races -- Reno, NV, US (through Sunday)

National Cinnamon Raisin Bread Day

National Guacamole Day 

National Guitar Flat-Picking Championships and Walnut Valley Festival -- Winfield, KS, US (through Sunday)

National Heroes' Day -- St. Kitts and Nevis

National Play-Doh Day -- unofficial; get some anyway and be a kid again for a little while

National School Backpack Awareness Day 2015 -- US (or anywhere else that you want to weigh your child's backpack on the 3rd Wednesday of September, to make sure it's not heavy enough to hurt them) 

National Teaching Assistants' Day -- UK 

Owain Glyndwr Day -- Wales

Pendleton Round-Up -- Pendleton, OR, US (traditional rodeo with the participation of local Native tribes; through Saturday)

St. Cornelius' Day (Patron of cattle, domestic animals, earache sufferers, epileptics; Kornelimunster, Germany;against earache, epilepsy, fever, twitching )

St. Cyprian of Carthage's Day (Patron of Algeria, North Africa)

St. Euphemia's Day (Patron of Rovinj, Croatia)

St. Ludmilla's Day (Grandmother of St. "Good King" Winceslaus; Patron of converts, duchesses, widows; Bohemia; Czech Republic; against in-law problems)

Stay Away From Seattle Day -- yes, really

Stepfamily Day -- US and others who choose to recognize it (if you have stepfamily you love, celebrate it wherever you live; begun in 1977 by Christy Borgeld) 

Working Parents Day -- internet generated, enjoy if you are a working parent or have a working parent you want to thank


Birthdays Today:

Nick Jonas, 1992
Sabrina Bryan, 1984
Alexis Bledel, 1982
Amy Poehler, 1971
Marc Anthony, 1968
Molly Shannon, 1964
Richard Marx, 1963
Jennifer Tilly, 1961
Orel Leonard Hershiser IV, 1958
David Copperfield, 1956
Mickey Rourke, 1956
Robin Yount, 1955
Mark McEwen, 1954
Henry Louis Gates, Jr., 1950
Susan Ruttan, 1950
Ed Begley, Jr., 1949
Elgin Gay Baylor, 1934
Anne Francis, 1932
Peter Falk, 1927
B.B. King, 1925
Lauren Bacall, 1924
Janice Page, 1923
Allen Funt, 1914
James Cash Penney, 1875
Francis Parkman, 1823
Anthony Panizzi, 1797
Hildegard of Bingen, 1098


Debuting/Premiering Today:

"Frasier"(TV), 1993
"Miami Vice"(TV), 1984
"Logan's Run"(TV), 1977
"Bridget Loves Bernie"(TV), 1972 (first mixed marriage portrayed on television)
"Mannix"(TV), 1967
"Shindig"(TV), 1964
"The Outer Limits"(TV), 1963
"Broadway"(Play), 1926


Today in History:

The Massachusetts village of Shawmut changes its name to Boston, 1630
Handel's "The Messiah" premiers in Dublin, 1741
The Great Seal of the United States is used for the first time, 1782
Russians set fire to Moscow shortly after midnight – the city burns down completely days later, 1812
Slavery is abolished in all French Territories, 1848
The Cherokee Strip, in Oklahoma, is opened, making land available to white settlers, 1893
Roald Amundsen discovers the magnetic south pole, 1906
William Durant, carriage-maker, founds General Motors Corp., 1908
Juan Perón is deposed in Argentina, 1955
Malaysia is formed, 1963
Cape Verde, Mozambique and Sao Tome and Principe join the United Nations, 1975
Shavarsh Karapetyan saves 20 people from the trolleybus that had fallen into Erevan reservoir, 1976
An earthquake measuring 7.5-7.9 on the Richter scale hits the city of Tabas, Iran killing about 25,000 people, 1978
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines join the United Nations, 1980
The Montreal Protocol is signed to protect the ozone layer from depletion, 1987
The Pound Sterling is forced out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism by currency speculators and is forced to devalue against the German mark, 1992
Mexico celebrates its 200th anniversary of independence, 2010
Denmark elects its first female Prime Minister, Helle Thorning-Schmidt, 2011
NASA scientists announce the discovery of a circumbinary planet - a planet the orbits two stars instead of one, 2011
The National Zoo in Washington, D.C., announces a successful artificial insemination as Mei Xiang gives birth to her second giant panda cub, 2012
The brain-eating amoeba, Naegleria fowleri, is found in tap water near New Orleans, the first time ever detected in the U.S. water supply, 2013