Be afraid of the nubs

Did you know that hippos weigh over 4,000 lbs and are considered one of the most dangerous and aggressive animals? I didn't until yesterday.

My recollection of hippo knowledge comes from the Disneyland Safari water ride where mechanical, plastic and rubber-made, unproportionately sized "exotic" animals rise out of the water and spray you... I remember liking that ride when I was a kid, and I certainly don't remember being afraid. Apparently, hippos are supposed to instill fear. Their mouths are so massive, and even though they only have nubs for teeth (which reminds me of a sister I have), the strength and sheer size of their jaw/mouth will just crush you whole. Jonah would never have survived being swallowed by a hippo.

We saw hippos at the Philadelphia Zoo yesterday and it was SO FUN! We went with Matt's cousin and his girlfriend and their housemates. We had mexican for lunch after walking through a huge market area (complete with live birds), then took the trolley where we were the only white people. A nice change from our current town. The zoo was awesome. So many cool animals!

When we went to see the river otters, they were playing around with each other and eating fish. One otter was so happy about his dinner that he repeatedly threw his fish in the air and twirled around in the water--pure joy. Except at one point, he threw it so high that it got caught on the fence above the water tank. There was no way the little guy could get it, so Matt saved the day and poked it through with a stick. What a guy.

That was his favorite part. I really liked the monkeys, as my brother-in-law would, and I was fascinated by the big cats like leopards and jaguars. I don't care for the birds--any of them, sorry--except for Gabby. I really wanted to see the giraffes but we were 20 minutes too late: dinner. I love giraffes.

On our way back, we all chose to take a taxi. As soon as we got in, we felt uncomfortable. First of all, our driver was 100 years old (actually 67 so he said), but more alarming: his crutches were in the front seat. He couldn't drive worth a penny and he was a little hard to understand with the huge cigar hanging out of his mouth. He had a sweatband around his afro and wore crazy Obama sunglasses. A few minutes into our ride, he said: "you look like intelligent people... how 'bout some trivia?" So we went for it. We got 4/6 correct: "an A" he said.

We ended our lovely day at a nice Italian restaurant--just the two of us.

Food in Philly is really great. There is a huge variety and it's all authentic, down to earth, with reasonable prices. If only we weren't so far, but maybe that just keeps things special.