On the road

Not in the least triaspirational, I hasten to add, but this has become the default blog for vacation reports, and I'm out of town for a short break...

Brent and I converged yesterday on a hotel where I once (coincidentally, randomly) delivered a paper on Smollett. We had a lovely dinner last night with Di and Bigun - great food, great company and a chance to meet the notorious Briscoe and the girls!


Today: Busch Gardens. We got drenched in the morning, and though it was on the whole very enjoyable all I can really say about roller coasters is that I believe it is character-building to do uncomfortable things one does not really enjoy and that I have a mild preference for the regular kind of roller-coaster over the wooden ones, but only because I find the wooden ones somewhat dreadful! But the animals are spectacular, and the afternoon sort of turned into one of the best days I have spent, ever.

Utterly delightful: feeding lorakeets; feeding giraffes; feeding (hmmm, a theme emerges!) flamingos! And then what is pretty much the rival for my top favorite animal show of all time (the Moscow Cats Theatre) - it is called Critter Castaways, and though it is on the whole in regrettable taste, and I entirely see why some people are offended at the notion of performing animals, it was truthfully one of the funniest and most amazing things I have ever seen in my life! Including some indescribably good trained cats - and a kangaroo!