The whales tale

I've had to wake myself up and drag myself off the couch to write this, so it may not be the most stylishly written blogpost of the week, and you might have to wait until tomorrow for photos...

Our first main achievement of the day was to hike the Beehive Trail - more of a vertical scramble in places.  It was pretty challenging and very satisfying, with great views of Sand Beach from the top. 

In the afternoon we made a major trip - out to sea on board a catamaran for a sunset whale-watching adventure.   We travelled hard and fast for an hour out of Bar Harbor.  I glimpsed a couple of harbour porpoises along the way (blink and you'd miss them).  In the middle of the ocean it was hard to imagine seeing anything - but then we saw spouts, and the curving backs of three humpbacked whales!

The three whales (well known to local researchers and our boat crew as Sigma, Breakers and Notchy. The whales are distinguished by the pattern on their fluke or tail fin and some have been known for thirty years or more) stuck around for a long time, searching for food and evidently not at all bothered by the presence of a whole bunch of people staring at them from a big boat.  They came up several times, spouted and flapped their tales to dive down again. Yay!  Notchy even breached a couple of times.

It was all great fun, though chilly and wet on the deck, especially as the boat plunged through the darkening waves back to the harbour.  The Man and I managed to get pretty well soaked.  I feel the cold at the best of times, and by the end of the trip I was looking so frozen (even with two jackets on)that a small child I had never seen or spoken to before turned to me and said "You look really cold!" and I had to agree that I really was. I was more than grateful for a hot shower back at the cottage.

So, *yawn*, an exhausting day.  But certainly a memorable one.

On edge

 

Another short, steep hike today - up the South Bubble at the edge of Jordan Pond, to visit "Bubble Rock".  Like everyone else who takes that trail, we had a go at rolling the rock down the hill...

I'll admit to feeling a bit freaked watching members of my family nonchalantly hanging about at the edge of a precipice (especially the Boy, who has been a bit accident prone on this trip; he is starting to look like a walking Band-Aid advertisement).  But they assured me they were perfectly safe, and we did indeed make it down again all in one piece - while Bubble Rock, of course, stayed put.

We were going to celebrate with famous lemonade and "popovers" (whatever exactly they are) at Jordan Pond House, but the place was teeming so we made do with lesser snacks (and still enjoyed the view of the Bubbles across the crystal clear lake just as much).

 

Then over to Bar Harbor, the main town on Mount Desert Island.  We'd read that it gets unbearably crowded, but really it wasn't that bad.  The children made some purchases - the Girl bought a couple of books, and the Boy invested in (well, what else?) a cuddly Maine lobster. Who now goes by the name of "Larry".

Albaniana in Wonderland

We spent part of a rainy morning exploring Southwest Harbor.  The Girl happily settled into the excellent little public library.  The rest of us picked up some useful sightseeing advice from the visitor information centre, before enjoying elevenses at the rather good "Cafe 2". 

Acting on the aforementioned advice, we looked in at the Carroll Homestead, a 19th century farmhouse just up the road from our holiday cottage.  We had some fun there playing old-fashioned children's games (hoop-tossing and so forth) in the parlour and the yard.

After lunch the weather seemed to have changed for the better, so we all took the short Wonderland Trail through woods to a rocky beach - and got nicely soaked in another rain shower on the way back to the car.

The kids then decided they were "dun hiking" for the day, so the Man and I left them indulging in the novelty of TV-viewing, while we took in a couple more short-but-steep nearby hikes.

First was up and down Flying Mountain, with views down into the Somes Sound (one of only two fjords in the eastern United States, the other being our own Hudson River).  At one point we ended up in a secluded, pebbly cove accessible only on foot or by boat.

 

Next we did half of the Beech Mountain trail - which we'd meant to do yesterday - up steep, rocky paths, stone steps and metal ladders.  It was a more direct, but more challenging route to the same viewpoint overlooking Echo Lake.

We've ended the day with more fun and games - family Cranium.  Dad and daughter vs self and son.  Thankfully we found a way of declaring a tie before anyone actually came to blows, though I think we all know who the moral victors were...

Park life

We've had another wonderfully sunny day here in Acadia.  In the morning we went on a hike by Beech Mountain.  On account of a wrong turn it wasn't the exact hike we'd planned, but still good, with lovely views of Echo Lake far below us.

In the afternoon: back to the beach for more fun-in-the-waves, sand-in-the-hair action.  And from there it was just down the road to Thunder Hole, a crevice in the rocks that makes a booming sound as the tide washes into it.  Maybe we caught it on a quiet day - if I'd travelled 500 miles just to see it I'd have been a bit disappointed - but we watched it for a while, then the kids enjoyed scrambling about on the rocks (until the Boy tripped and had to hobble back to the car with banged-about knees).

 

On our way back to our cottage we detoured up Cadillac Mountain, to the highest point on the island and yet more impressive views.  It was wild and windy up there.  The Girl leapt around like a mountain goat.  I found a plaque memorialising Stephen Mather, who in the early part of the 20th century was the first director of the National Parks Agency and established the policies by which the parks continue to be developed and preserved.  "There will never come an end to the good that he has done" reads the plaque.  May that ever be true - the national parks are inspiring, beautiful and altogether one of the greatest things about America.

 

The Maine event

After our mountain adventure yeserday we were back on the road for a few more hours, and in the early evening we reached our final destination:  Acadia, Maine.

We're staying in a small cottage in Southwest Harbor on Mount Desert Island.  It's one of a few towns dotted between large stretches of Acadia National Park.

It took us a while today to get our bearings and stock up on provisions, but eventually this afternoon we took ourselves to Sand Beach, which is part of the park.  As the name suggests, it's a beach and it's sandy - which is actually quite unusual up here.  It was great.  Not deserted, but not unpleasantly crowded.  Man and kids spent a long time in the sea (too cold for me) and eventually emerged shivering but still cheerful.  All in all, an excellent start to our main, Maine vacation.

 

 

 

World's worst climate summit

The definite highpoint of the day (pun intended) was our trip up Mount Washington, NH.

At 6,288 ft (1,917) m, it's the highest peak in the White Mountains' Presidential Range.  We considered driving our own car up the Mt. Washington Auto Road (America's first man-made tourist attraction, built originally as a carriage road in 1861), but were glad that we decided instead to fork out and take the one and a half hour minibus roundtrip.  Not only did this mean that someone else's brakes took the strain on the notoriously steep route, but we also got the benefit of our driver's extensive knowledge of the mountain.

America is never shy to claim a superlative, and this mountain is reckoned to have the worst climate in the world - weather hazardously changeable, snowfall likely every month of the year, famous for severe winds...if you're a weather buff you can read all about it here.  Every morning we listen to a lengthy weather forecast on public radio, and the windspeeds on Mt. Washington always get a mention.  But today it was unusually mild and hardly windy at all - rather to the Man's disappointment.  More wind, might, in fact have given us better views from the summit.  As it was, we could see little through the clouds below us.  Then again, at least we didn't experience winds as strong as 231 miles per hour which, as a sign attests, has happened.  It's just as well that the roof to this summit building is held on with chains.

Another way up the mountain is by cog railway.  We watched this rather lovely vehicle make its ascent during our half-hour stay at the stop.

On the way up and down we got to see how the terrain changed, from forested valley to treeless alpine zone at the top.  I was surprised to see many monarch butterflies as we drove along - apparently they cross the mountain on their extraordinary migration from the northeast to their winter home in Mexico.

We thoroughly enjoyed our ride.  Another passenger with us in the minibus didn't seem to have quite such a good time.  Poor guy, he spent much of the journey both ways with a jacket over his head, unable to look out as we ascended and descended on such a steep narrow road with no safety barriers - yikes! - although, as our driver assured us, in the road's long history no driver has gone over the edge.

Bear essentials

We've spent a while on the road today, heading northeast towards our vacation destination. 

Along the way we stopped for lunch in Hanover, New Hampshire - home of Ivy League Dartmouth College (and also one-time home of Bill Bryson).  It's a tiny place.  We checked out a couple of bookstores and cafes on Main Street.  At Lou's Restaurant the Boy ordered what purported to be "the best milkshake in town" (but when we asked him if it really was the best he replied earnestly that he couldn't really say, as he hadn't had any other milkshakes in that town).

Now we're at our en route accommodation, the Stonybrook Motel in Franconia, NH.  I've always fancied staying in a real motel - one of those one-storey places where you park your car right outside the door to your room.  This one is not grand by any means - I'm not sure that any of them are - but if you don't mind just basic facilities, and decor circa 1974, it's really not bad.  And the setting is splendid - grassy fields around the backs of the buildings, a pond and a river, and views of the White Mountains.  On top of that, an indoor swimming pool where we had fun racing each other, and now the Man is teaching the kids about another type of pool in the Games Room.

And...as we were setting out for dinner this evening we saw A BEAR!  It was just wandering around the motel grounds and (from a safe distance) we watched it climb a tree and then fall out of it when a branch broke under its weight - it was huge! 

Wow.  I've never seen a bear in the wild before.  I'm kind of glad we're not camping... But anyway, now I'm holding out for a moose...

Water grand day out

The Man writes...Water Safari in Old Forge in the Adirondacks is some three hours from Albany, but it is well worth the trip. This is a huge water park with some great rides: fast but not overly painful. I took the Girl and a friend today and we all enjoyed it immensely. Even after seven hours we hadn't got round to doing everything we wanted to do and were sad to leave.

X hits the spot

The Man writes...a day off work gave me a chance to take the Girl to lunch.

To let the Girl try a wider variety of Japanese food we headed off to (the oddly named) Sushi X in Latham. For $13.50 they offer an "all you can eat" lunch where you select any number of small plates by ticking what you want on a paper menu. The choices include a wide range of sushi but also a number of items "from the kitchen" including miso soup, tempura, salad, egg rolls, dumplings, tofu, fish and chicken dishes.

Once you find what you like you can order it again. And again. The Girl took full advantage and ended up ordering three portions of chicken teriyaki.

Interesting food and good company, together with the relaxed atmosphere and the cool decor, made it a great way to spend a couple of hours. Although the Girl did regret eating quite so much when it came to the following skating lesson.

Great Escapade

Someone else should really be writing this, but he's too exhausted after a full day at a theme park with two of his friends.  Apparently they all had a great time at the Great Escape & Splashwater Kingdom, near Lake George.

Since he got home the Boy has been telling us about the various rides, many of which make me nauseous just thinking about them.  Apparently he resisted the flagship "Steamin' Demon" rollercoaster (on account of the loop-the-loops) - but his friends went on it and needed headache tablets afterwards. 

"Fun" means such different things to different people, doesn't it?

Move over, Tom Daley

Well, we all know that British Olympic hero Tom Daley can flip, roll and spin through a dive or two.  But can he do this?

Eh?  Or how about...this?

Hmm?

Art in the park

The Man and I drove up to Saratoga Spa State Park this afternoon to enjoy an art festival.  The Girl (who, unlike her brother, hadn't found anything better to do) came with us under duress, and who knows how much (if at all) she enjoyed it?

It was a perfect day for such an event, sunny but mild, and a lovely setting.  There was a wide variety of art on show, including photos and oils of the New England coast, etchings, large striking prints, sculptures made out of junk, silks, pottery, and fun kaleidoscopes. Much of it was beyond our pockets, but it was still interesting to wander and admire. 

Modest complaints:  the live band playing "mellow rock" music was a bit intrusively loud.  And the refreshments were, as ever, mainly of the oh-so-familiar fried kind.  I was very hungry and ordered some "butterfly fries" - made from potatoes spun and sliced into whirls then deep fried - the perfect vehicle for a good old helping of grease.  Not my best ever meal choice, but I ate up because, as I say, I was hungry. Not to mention they cost $7 a serving - yikes.

On the way home the Girl took a chortling trip down memory lane, reading old entries of this blog on her dad's iPhone.  "It's not fair," she sighed, "[the Boy] and I were much cuter and funnier then!  Now we just act surly."  Hmm. She knows herself too well, that kid - it's unnerving.

Chillin' with neighbours

We've just got in from our neighbour's annual pig-roast celebration.  As usual, it was fun to see some local friends and enjoy the entertainments (this year there was a "dangerous juggler", as well as the ever-popular caricaturist, bands and beer tasting).  The Girl spent part of the proceedings in hiding from her 5th grade math teacher, who was there as a guest.  The Boy came prepared with a torch (flashlight) and ran back and forth in the wooded end of the yard.

Though the music continues from over the fences, we are talked out for the evening.  Not to mention there's a chill in the air - it might be time to start putting blankets back on the bed at nights.

Five full years

It's five years since the start of our adventure in New York's Capital District.  Wow.  Back then we had no idea we'd still be here now, but here we appear still to be.  Can't be that bad, then, you'd have to suppose.

Much better than not bad, of course.  A few family highlights from our life in the States (in no particular order):

Winning a skating competition, and skating in general (Girl)
Visiting Lake Placid (Boy)
Trip to the Grand Canyon (Man and me)
Skiing together
Indian Ladder Farms, and Trail
Jiminy Peak and Zoom Flume
Over-nighting in the State Museum
Breakneck Ridge
Boston
Sleepaway camps
Having a pool
Washington DC
Black Friday Fair Trade Market
NYC
Cape Cod
Niagara Falls
Making new friends
Five Rivers
Big snow and intense cold
Ice-creams the size of our heads

The "s" word

We have reached that point in the summer when we are - as little as possible, but still somewhat - beginning to think about... (shh) back-to-school.

Over here that principally means the annual chore of buying school supplies.  Determined not to be caught out yet again by a last minute global shortage of one-inch red binders (what is it about those red binders?) I got the lists out, checked our existing supplies (quite a lot is recyclable from last year) and took the kids down to Staples. 

Amazingly, we managed a clean sweep - every item on the list in one trip to one store, and it took us less than 30 minutes.  Nothing short of miraculous.

Of course, the Girl hasn't yet received all her teacher allocations.  Who knows what the as yet undisclosed French teacher will require her to have by way of rare pocket folders, pronged or otherwise?  But I have at least done all I can with the information currently available.

Another happy piece of school-related news:  the school district's calendar arrived in the mailbox today and we have confirmed that the Boy's birthday is going to fall on a Saturday and the Girl's in a vacation.  Much rejoicing!

Foodfest

On a whim, we went along to a Food Festival tonight on Albany's vast Empire Plaza.  The Boy had arrived earlier with his best buddy's family, and we met everyone there.

There was a pretty wide selection of food on offer, though no surprises that a whole lot of it was fried(including alligator nuggets, a new one on me).  When we caught up with him the Boy had already consumed a "doggie-bowl of fries" - yep, chips served in a (polysterene) dog-bowl - and a bucket of fresh lemonade.  He chased it all down with a huge ("small") chocolate ice-cream by Emack and Bolio.

The Man and I ordered veggie patties from a Caribbean-American stall.   In honour of a Jamaican sprinter, we Bolted them down.  The Girl had more of a contest with her serving of barbecue chicken wings from the same vendor - so hot and spicey she was soon in need of a bucket of lemonade herself.

Eating was accompanied by live music.  By the time we had food in our hands the act on stage was Tonic, a "post-grunge" band from LA.  I liked them, though they were very, VERY loud.  Too loud for the younger members of our party, so with some regret at not trying more food, we ended up finishing our dinner at home.

Readers write

A good day: the Girl and I became ladies who lunched (Japanese style) before she hit the ice rink (figuratively speaking), the Boy hung out most of the day with a friend, while the Man as usual applied himself to the huge task of creating something tiny.  Currently, despite a definite hint-of-autumn chill, Man and Boy are having their nightly bedtime swim. I wonder how many more days that will last.  

But beyond all that, with no hilarious anecdotes, daring adventures or dazzling insights to share I hereby hand this blogpost over to you, dear readers.  What have you been up to today?

Mango Tree

After a failed attempt to go roller-skating (Guptills was closed), I found myself driving up Route 9 this afternoon with the kids, not sure where we would end up.

Saratoga Springs, as it turned out.  We stopped off in the State Park, and would have partaken of the spring waters if there hadn't been such long lines at the taps.  Instead we hopped back in the car and moved on to Ballston Spa.

There I finally got to call in on Mango Tree Imports, a fair trade craft store I've been meaning to visit for ages. 

It's a lovely store, beautifully laid out.  Full disclosure, I know the owners (Kim and Chris Anderson) pretty well through numerous fair trade events.  This mostly means that I know what great people they are, how hard they work at their business and how dedicated they are to the whole concept of fair trade.  They are behind Ballston Spa becoming New York State's first (and still only) Fair Trade Town.

I very much enjoyed looking round the shop.  If you happen to be a local reader, or in the area, it's definitely worth making the trip to Mango Tree to check out the huge variety of products - each with an interesting tale of the artisan or community who made it.

How was it for you?

We watched the Olympic closing ceremony as-it-happened on the NBC livestream. 

Personally I could have managed a bit less of it, and fewer resurrected rockstars (though I felt stupidly excited to see the Spice Girls again - that Gerri Halliwell went to my school you know).  It would have been good to see a lot more images of the Games just past - surely that would have stirred all our emotions more than any amount of George Michael, or even Eric Idle looking on the bright side of life. 

But perhaps you just had to be there.

Anyway, there'll no doubt be endless highlights programmes for UK viewers on the BBC now, not to mention Sports Personality of the Year to look forward to.  Whoever are they going to pick?  King Wiggo?  Murray, or Mo?  Sir Chris or amazing Jess?  Or any of the dozens of others.  What a great Games for Great Britain, all around and in every way.  Hey, maybe we should pick Seb Coe (again), as a thank you?

What will you remember most about the last two weeks?

Sports and spots

As you may have done too, we watched some exciting Olympic action today (Go Mo!  And wow, those Jamaicans!).   And then, since it was still only afternoon here, we thought we really should drag ourselves off the couch for a bit of activity ourselves.

It's a while since we've been to the Indian Ladder Trail at Thacher Park, so we headed up there for a very enjoyable post-rainy hike.  There were lots of orange salamadery creatures and frogs to spot, as well as chipmunks and an acrobatic red squirrel.  While the children mucked about in the little streams, the Man and I stood by admiring the escarpment and marvelling that we have somewhere as impressive as this to visit so close to home.

Now as I write the rest of the family is out in the pool, cooling off before bedtime after another humid day.  The Boy will no doubt be practising his diving skills - he has identified this as his potential Olympic sport.  How about you - have the Games inspired you to get sporty, or sportier?  Or in some other way (thanks for the cartoon, Ancestor)?

Remind me to remind you

Over the last couple of days I've been reading a fun book by Joshua Foer - Moonwalking with Einstein. The Art & Science of Remembering Everything.  It sets out to explore what we know and understand about memory, and incidentally provides tips on how you can improve your own memory should you feel like it.  It's a fairly light read but full of interesting facts and ideas to ponder. 

In ancient times, as the book explains, the ability to memorize was a highly prized and necessary art form, a way of ensuring that knowledge could be passed down and built upon.  Special formulae were developed for improving memory skills.  Over time this area of expertise has largely been superceded by "externalised memory" - recording and retrieving information outside of our heads, so that we don't actively have to remember very much at all.  The digitalisation of information is speeding up this trend no end.

For anyone else who, like me, is a bit resistant to new technologies (not totally resistant, but, you know) this anecdote about Socrates is worth a thought.  Several centuries BC, Socrates was a great proponent of memory skills.  He is reported to have been quite averse to the new-fangled technology of writing that was just coming into fashion as he thought it would spell the end of memory.  Not writing as in printing and books, mind you - we're talking handwriting.  Ultimately, I suppose, Socrates was proved right.

Moonwalking with Einstein hangs on a "one year challenge" peg.  In this case the author trains himself in memory techniques for a year in order to compete in a USA Memory Championship.  "Try it for a year" is a popular gimmick for writers these days, I've  noticed - there are books on pursuing happiness; health; Biblical living; cooking like Julia Childs; aspiring to be like Eleanor Roosevelt...all neatly over the course of twelve months.  Maybe I could have a stab?  Can you suggest a year-long project for me?

Bats in the bedroom

The other night a friend of mine and her husband woke up in the middle of the night and found a bat flying around in their bedroom. 

It's possible to be bitten by a bat and not know about it.  Sounds unlikely, but apparently it's true.  And (unlike their UK cousins) bats around here sometimes carry rabies.  So the official advice for anyone who finds a bat in their bedroom when they've been asleep is to get along to the doctor pronto for a rabies shot (actually a course of shots).  My friend will be starting the process tomorrow, and she's not very excited about it.

As a public service, here's a link to everything you might want to know about rabies.  There's also a handy video-link in the left-hand corner of the same page showing you how to catch a bat if you ever find one in your bedroom.

Big bunny

While I was picking berries yesterday the children spent some time visiting their four-legged farm friends.

I mentioned, did I, that Binky (the Boy's bunny-camp rabbit and long-term farm resident) is big? Not all that big for a typical Flemish Giant, apparently (they can end up weighing 30lbs and more), but nevertheless...

...a whole lot of bunny.

Berry tasty

Sometimes (like nearly closing time on a busy summer Sunday) we've found fruit pickings to be a bit thin at Indian Ladder Farms. 

Not today - there were plenty of blueberry bushes bursting with perfect ripe berries.  I soon had a punnet full to the brim.

Blueberries for breakfast, lunch and dinner, yum yum.

Good clean fun

We were quite tickled by this informative sign at the Mystic Aquarium the other day (you might have to click on the photo for the full fun):

Recovery

It certainly was a long night, but we did (just about) manage to survive it.  Due to a "crackling of thunder" the boys abandoned the tent and came indoors about 1am.  Otherwise everything pretty much went to plan, i.e. the kids ate way too much candy and had hardly any sleep at all. 

Today has been given over to recovery - the dragging of weary bodies from one couch to another, the fizz and pop of short fuses, that sort of thing. 

In all sorts of ways, I've been reminded of this day - and who'd have thought Murray's "next time" on Centre Court would come so soon and with such a golden result?  I enjoyed watching the match online this morning.

The Man was also involved in some different recovery action today - a spot of roadside rescue for friends who'd come a-cropper.  Nobody was hurt, thankfully, though they'll have to wait and see if the vehicle they were in will make a full recovery.

Intent to party

Well, plenty of Olympic excitement in London for Team GB! We've been watching it all live on NBC online (oddly enough with mainly Australian commentary - the BBC is blocked of course), while keeping half a teary eye on the almost equally wild excitement going on in our pool and backyard.

A bunch of about ten kids have been here since 1 o'clock, but as far as the fun goes we're barely started yet.  It's 6pm as I write, and the party is due to go on until - yikes - noon tomorrow.  It's likely to be a long and noisy night, with girls in the "three season" room, and boys out the back in (oh my!) our new tent (a modest little thing about the size of our back garden in Linton).

I'll report back tomorrow - possibly a paler, blearier version of my former self...

Smartie-pants phone

I took the kids food shopping for their party, and lo the cupboard is now bulging with a variety of edible non-foodstuffs.  Ho hum.  I'm sure it'll all go down well (and let's just hope not too much of it comes up again in the middle of the night).

The entire surface of the pool is now covered in inflatables and no water is visible.  It gives me an idea for a new Olympic swimming event - the 200m obstacle crawl.

Meanwhile the Girl has been quizzing Siri, the smart-aleck voice of the Man's iPhone, on the meaning of Life the Universe and Everything.  Selected answers include:

• I Kant answer that. Ha-ha.
• It's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya.
• I can't answer that right now, but give me some time to write a long play in which nothing happens.
• All evidence to date suggests it's chocolate.
• Try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try to live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations.
• 42

Has anyone got anything else to offer on the subject?

Breathless with excitement

The kids have a party scheduled for the weekend (hang on, didn't I say "never again"?), and of course half the fun of a party is in the planning and preparations.  Today they've been choosing DVDs from the library for the evening entertainment, and picking out a couple of new inflatables for the pool-party side of things (and guess w-h-h-h-o's been blowing them up?).

Tomorrow we'll be working on the menu.  They couldn't possibly be expecting a festival of salt, fat and sugar...could they?

Watch the birdie

So, back at the aquarium...

We listened in on a couple of presentations about seals and sea-lions which managed to be fun and educational at the same time.  We learnt that seals are "opportunistic feeders" - just like someone (beginning with G) in our family.  And we attended the "Sea-lion Show", which was pretty low key and mostly demonstrated how the animals are taught to do tricks that make it easier for the trainers to keep them healthy and active.  As far as the show went, the sea-lions had the last say.  A couple of them didn't feel much like performing, wandered on stage and got fed a fish or two then wandered off again.  We rather admired their nonchalance.

A surprise extra for a venue concerned with aquatic life was the summer special "Birds of the Outback" exhibit.  Basically, a big tent full of budgerigars.  For $3 each we got to go in with a bit of millet stuck on a stick to see how many budgies we could tempt down from their perches.  It was a lot of feathery fun.  I'd forgotten how much I like budgies.

But the highlight of the visit for me was a 10 year-old beluga whale called Juneau.  He kept coming right up to the glass viewing wall to look at the crowd.  He seemed especially interested in very small children, and would press his nose against the glass and squeak at them, and stay with them for minutes at a time.  Who knows, maybe he was asking them to get him out of there?  But it seemed more like he was just being friendly and trying to play.  It was entrancing to watch.  I quite lost my heart to that pudgy white whale.