Note: Movies formatted to play in Windows Media Player

Over the weekend, I took a very quick trip to visit Kirsten. She had suggested I visit her while the mid-state fair was going on so that we could go together. I haven't been to a fair since I was little, so it sounded like a lot of fun. Right after work on Friday, I hit the road. Traffic was a little hairy at first, and it took four hours to get to San Luis Obispo, where I got a sandwich and hung out at the bookstore for a few hours, waiting for Kirsten to get off work. Her shift ends at 11pm, and luckily, I managed my way through the dark highway and roads to find her workplace only a few minutes before she got off. Then, we headed to Denny's! Mmm, Denny's. We shared a breakfast meal, and then probably went overboard by sharing a brownie ice cream sundae dessert. Talk about sugar overload!

The next morning we visited the zoo that Kirsten has volunteered at for years. That place is the sister site to Little Zoo, and I actually found out about Little Zoo almost a year ago through Kirsten. (Thanks, Kirsten!!) Anyway, we had a fun time wandering around and visiting all the animals. We got some work done, and then we played with my camera, taking pictures and movies! I added all the pics I took to my zoo animals album. As for the movies I took...

The first movie is of walking stick bugs (2 MB).

I tried taking some pictures of Kirsten with the walking sticks. I got one good one and about five blurry ones. It's definitely easier to take movies of the fast moving animals, so here's a video of Kirsten with the walking stick (1.2 MB).

Just recently I found out that tigers make this really cool noise called chuffing, so I knew I wanted to take a video of Kirsten's tigers. (Okay, they're not hers, per se, but you know what I mean.) First, I took a video of Sima. You hear me make the noise about fourteen hundred times. She does it ONE time, toward the very end. Listen closely, or you might miss it (3 MB).

Of course, I had to take a video of Jasmine, too (2.4 MB). She made really cool cat noises! No chuffing, but lots of cool vocalizations, which was awesome. And you can't beat a tiger yawn. That's just plain cute.

Last but not least, I had to get a video of Trouble the bear (3.4 MB). He is really cool, and likes to lick fingers. And come on, how can I resist video taping a bear licking my hand??

I finished my little movie productions in time to help load animals for the show at the fair. I opened a few doors to help one of the guys load the kangaroos. Then when we loaded the beaver, the guy took the beaver out of his temporary cage and handed him to ME to load into the van! Oh my god, I held a real live beaver!! It was super cool. I thanked him several times! Waldo the beaver was not very big, but he was heavy and dense, and his fur was so thick and warm. It was incredible!

After the last animal, a baby deer, was loaded, he took off and Kirsten and I got some lunch, then went to her wonderfully air conditioned home. We hung out with the puppies some more (god, I love her dogs so much!!). Then we took a nice long nap. It was 104 degrees outside, so I was glad to just stay in for a bit! Plus, I knew it'd help me not be so sleepy on my long drive back that night.

After we woke up and showered, we headed to the fair, where I promptly bought a corndog and water. Mmm, corn dog...

We watched the animal show, and got to see an awesome free concert, too. It was performed by an L.A. band called Ozomatli, and they freaking ROCKED! It was like rock music and jazz combined with elements of rap. The lyrics were mostly in Spanish and some of the melodies sounded like they were inspired by Indian music. There was a trumpet, trombone, and saxophone and really cool percussion instruments, too. I freaking loved these guys! Kirsten and I (and the rest of the crowd) stood and danced through the whole show. The guys on stage were amazing, too - they could really dance, and were totally gettin' down! If you ever have the chance to see them, definitely do it! I would love the see them again. Needless to say, we were sad we couldn't watch the second show, but I really needed to leave, because it was late and I had to work early the next morning.

But first, an animal pick-up! The coatimundi babies needed to be brought down to L.A. and since I was going to be at the sister zoo anyway, I offered to pick them up and bring them back to Little Zoo. Then somehow two animals turned into four, and my car was filled with crates. I guess the people at the sister zoo said they'd been meaning to send down some other animals, too, and wanted me to go ahead and do it. And because I rock, I did. Hee!

So, I drove with two coatis, a porcupine, and a cavy in my car for three hours. They were all really good and didn't even stink too bad. The porcupine was in a crate on the passenger seat next to me, and I kept hearing him tear his newspaper in between naps. It was pretty funny.

I was worried about loading them at Little Zoo in the dark, but Claire had left lots of lights on for me, because she rocks. The coatis were easy, and super quick to put away. I just put their crate in the enclosure with the door open and closed them into the enclosure. The Fennec foxes in the next-door enclosure "helped" by making as much noise as possible. I know they were just saying hi to me in their foxy way, but their greeting truly sounds like they're being stepped on. I kept shushing them, which didn't work at all, so I just had to laugh at all the racket they were making, and try to get out of there as fast as possible, to let them calm down again.

I wanted to put the porcupine in his cage, so that took a little time and coaxing. But I knew he'd like having more room and a little place to hide, so it all worked out. I wasn't sure which dish to put water in, so I chose a small one that he couldn't demolish with those crazy rodent teeth of his, and was instantly glad I did, because he started drinking from it right away.

The cavy was in a crate that was really probably too small for him, plus he had pooed all inside it, poor thing. I got a large clean crate, and coaxed him into it, and opted not to put a water dish in there, because he was acting skittish and I knew he'd knock it over and spend the whole night soaking wet. I knew he'd like being dry better, so I just let him be, after he was in the new crate. I left a note on the board, turned out some of the lights and headed out once more.

By the time I got home, it was already two in the morning! And then I ended up staying up another hour in spite of the fact I had to get up at 6:30 for work! But my night owl tendencies are another story all together.

So anyway, it was a fast and whirlwind trip, but it was cool. It was so fun seeing Kirsten and I'm really glad I went!

Special thanks to Kirsten for helping me make the movies! And for feeding me and letting me sleep in her house and stuff, too!