Some Of The Best Days Of My Life…
Sometimes you just have to sneak out of the office and grab your gal pals and head out for a quick road trip adventure - that’s exactly what I did earlier this week with my two oldest granddaughters. My middle granddaughter is obsessed with Red Pandas, so when I discovered that the Columbus Zoo and Aquarium in Columbus, Ohio offers up close and personal encounters with these cute little mammals, it became my mission to surprise her with an experience of a lifetime. The problem was that these encounters are incredibly popular and book up fully as soon as dates are released. For months, I would daily log onto the Columbus Zoo’s website to see if there were any updates and finally in April, I hit the jackpot. My adrenaline was pumping and my heart was racing and I was not only squealing with excitement, my hands were also shaking as I quickly texted my daughter to see what dates would work for us to attend in the month of July (the soonest date I could find that hadn’t already been booked). In my haste to secure our spots, I misread our deadline schedule for Movin’ Out and didn’t realize my error until about 3 weeks ago. I thought we would be leaving the day that the August issue was being sent to press, however, we actually were going to be on road for the first two critical days of deadline week.
“The show must go on!” I proclaimed and I spent many late evenings and the weekend prior in hustling to get a head start on that pesky deadline. There is an age requirement for the Red Panda Encounter, so my grandson and youngest granddaughter are too young to participate. Finally it was time to embark on our Gaga and the Girls Excursion. We stocked up on lots of snacks for the three hour drive. I grabbed some Taylor Swift music CDs and plugged in my trusty Garmin and we hit the road! We had lunch breaks and pit stops to grab a quick Starbucks and buy MORE Taylor Swift CDs. When we arrived, we did a quick check in at the hotel, followed by dinner out and swimming in pool. The girls made us “Red Panda” friendship bracelets to wear the next day.
I woke up at 5:00 am and had to wait for 3 very long hours until the sleepyheads roused from Slumberland. We drove the 7 miles to the Zoo in giddy anticipation. Once inside the gates, we headed to Adventure Cove as our Encounter was not until 2:00 pm. The girls alternately went on amusement rides (Yinz Guys – there’s a mini amusement park inside the zoo and also a Water Park!) and we visited the different animal lands in the zoo. We absolutely loved the Stingray Bay where we could pet the Stingrays and the girls even fed them! We rented a Giraffe Scooter Pal to briefly zip around Adventure Bay. We also immensely enjoyed the Dino Land boat ride. We had arrived before 9:30 am and the heat was already stifling. As the day wore on, the temperatures continued to climb into the 90ºs ad the real feel heat index was hovering between 98º and 105º! I was drenched in sweat and even most of the animals said, “This is cray-cray!” and retreated into their air conditioned indoor houses!
Finally the clock rang 2:00 pm and we were ushered into the Red Panda’s home! Kora (the Mom) and Santi (her daughter) emerged from their A/C home. We feed them biscuits and watched as the Pandas high-fived and shook hands with their trainer/keeper Kristy. The girls were overwhelmed with joy and happiness and just beamed for the 30 minutes that our Encounter lasted. There were lots of photos and videos taken (did you expect any less from me?!).
We did a little more Zoo exploring after that but the heat was in full force by then and both us and the animals had had enough. The trip home was fraught with rush hour traffic and so.much.road.construction. We stopped at the Goasis Travel Center in Ashland, Ohio for fudge and a Starbucks Summer-Berry Refresher. Later on we made another pit stop at our favorite travel convenience stores - Sheetz for gas, more snacks and some sushi! We rolled into my daughter and son-in-law’s house at 9:10 pm. I drove the 12 minutes to my house and downloaded my photos, caught up on emails and edited some more copy.
Sitting at my computer yesterday, frantically and feverishly working to meet my deadline, I briefly questioned my decision to go away during the beginning of a deadline week. “Was it worth it” I asked myself. And less than a second of pondering, I looked down at my Red Panda bracelet around my wrist and I recalled the smiles, laughter and happiness that my granddaughters shared on those 2 days and how they spent the entire trip home profusely thanking me over and over again. Oh yes, it was totally worth it and these were truly some of the best days of my life!