searching for shade

Throughout the entirety of the weekend, my coworker Meghan was whining to me about the trip we were going to go on with some of our residents to the Turtleback Zoo in West Orange. Now it's Monday, and after the trip, and I can see exactly why she was so vocal about hoping somehow the trip would be canceled!

What am I saying, the trip wasn't terrible, but the weather was scorching hot, that's all. The intense work of loading people on and off twice in the bus and then pushing up the wheelchairs on steep hills of the zoo was making me sweat so much! The sun was beating down on the entire place with few areas offering shade. Other than that though, we had a good time taking them through the place.

The resident I was wheeling around for the day was so funny, "Look at that elephant!"

"That's not an elephant, Norma. You're looking at cattle!" I responded.

"That elephant is really big!"

Overall, the trip was fun in retrospect, but I'd think twice about going the next time instead of being all gung-ho about it! The rickety bus with no air conditioning hit every bump in the road making me feel carsick. Inclines are rough in the heat of the summer. I did see a porcupine in a den, capybaras in water, penguins in water, and even a red-eyed skink under leaves (I never heard of one of those before until that day) and that is something to be happy about. Even the animals though, they were trying to hide away from the hot weather in some way. We were the stupid ones!

-SFR