I've been feeling kind of cranky lately, mostly just a bit of a mood crash. I regret it of course. So, i will take the time to actually post to my blog. It's the storyland valley zoo story. In two parts. I'm too cranky to interlace the pics and the text, so i'll just start with the first.
The best thing about SVZ, in them days, was the train. Went all around the park, over a wee bridge where ducks floated by beneath, past the monkey cage, through a davey jones type simulation, limited animatroning involved, past some goats and other caged beast, and ended back at the start, after the last attraction on the ride, the single lonely polar bear in it's concrete enclosure. At least it's cold in the winter here. Bothers me to think of keeping a polar bear in Etown midsummer heat.
On the train, is Randy, Robby, Debbi, and some squarehead mutant trying not to drop the pumpkin head to the side.
I seriously think the lady in the patterned dress, picture left, is my/our
mother/grandmother.
Next pic, my sainted Brother Randy, being kissed, or licked, by a goat of some type. Aminals loved Randy, his peacefulness of course made them friends.
Last pic, the same dang train i mentioned earlier. Me staring into oblivion, and my 3 siblings all happy, and paying attention to the mom with the camera. Don't you love seeing such joy on Randy's face?
There's a few more SVZ slides, i'll post them next.
Once again, the pictures of Kid Debbie never fail to make me smile, and Kid Jeff always reminds me of Kyle/Jack. Good post! I hope you get cheered up soon.
ReplyDeleteGreat remembrances in these pics. The kids loved going to the Zoo, might've been before they got the baby elephant which actually grew up there, and was eventually joined by a number of other "effylunks" as Judy used to call them. I remember the Edmonton Journal held a contest to name the little elephant when it first got there, the name they chose escapes me at the moment. The zoo itself was truly a "storyland" which was depicted in life sized terra cotta (maybe plastic??) nursery rhyme figures and structures. Jeff really was partial to the shoehouse belonging to the Old Woman That Lived In A Shoe. (Had so many children she didn't know what to do....etcetc).
ReplyDeleteHis description of the train ride is accurate, the kids loved that too. I have a memory of a monkey cage, and one unfriendly monkey that would fill his mouth with water, then come as close as he could to the bars of the cage, and spray the water all over the bystanders....I don't think it was Storyland Zoo, maybe San Diego or Seattle, or Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake...does anybody remember that ugly beast?