It's a Zoo

Michele and I went to the St. Louis Zoo today. It was a madhouse. With a balmy almost 70 degrees (F), everyone and their monkey's uncle was out.

As usual, we parked across the bridge in the Turtle Park. If you are willing to walk just a bit, you can get free parking almost every time. With the free admission to the Zoo, this makes for a very inexpensive trip, just avoid the gift shops.

An extra perk for the day, the top guy who usually performs at the Japanese Festival at the Botanical Gardens was set up in the Turtle Park. We spent a few minutes talking to him on the way in and on the way out. Most of his tops he mad himself. Of three 'performance' tops (ones he uses for tricks), he made one of layered disks of fiberglass, one of origami paper and one of wood. All three had pet flee collars around the outside for the rubberized protection of the edges. He also said he has one at home that was machined out of aluminum and that if you spin it on a smooth level surface, most of the time it will stop standing up instead of falling over. I'd love to see that sometime. I wish I could send him plans for a hand lathe or something.