Frozen Weekend

So it's hella-cold outside, Thanksgiving weekend, and we're still searching for Nintendo DS. What to do...?

THE DENVER ZOO!

Michele, Jackie, and I too advantage of some free passes and went to the Zoo again. I feel like a real Colorado veteran now because this is like my 4th pass through the Zoo. It was very cold today, but that also meant less crowds and less zoo-y smell.

Along with the crowds, though, went some animals. But, we had some highlights, most notably the baby lion cubs that were so very cute. :-) The mommy lion was right next to the glass, looking right at us, eyeball to eyeball. It was creepy, but we were safe, and it was interesting to see that natural love.

Another highlight was one of the gorillas in the Big Apes area was just sitting there facing the glass. He was gnawing on something, and he just looked so eerily human. He made this laughing motion every so often. One of the Zoo workers was there outside the cage and she was saying how this is his favorite seat. He would stick his tongue out at us, it was hilarious.

So, come to think of it, this was probably the best Zoo visit ever. :-)

Afterwards, we enjoyed dinner at "Claim Jumper" which is a great dinner spot located at C-40 and Quebec. *BIG* helpings. It's also where Michele had her Bachelorette Party dinner...which is a funny story in itself. OK, I got time...

Jackie, our Zoo partner, was Michele's maid-of-honor and hosted her, a few other CO friends and, well, a very large NY contingent mde up of my family. :-) It was my mom, my sisters Susan and Pam, my sister-in-law Carollanne, and my sister's partner, Chrissie. Along with Michele's sister-in-law Shannon, they had a heckuva time embarrassing the hell out of Michele!

So, at Claim Jumper, they had Michele dressed up in a "Last Night Single" shirt, making her wear her wedding vail and some balloons tied to her. If ya know Michele, ya know the hell. ;-) Then...in true loud NY-er style, Michele was followed by the Backelorette group wheerever she walked...to the table, away from the table, to the restrooms...with every nearly screaming "Da da da da!" (the wedding march). We have video. ;-) It was great to watch.

OK, that's the story. Back to present day.

So we gorged on dinner and it was delectible, including a 6-layer chocolate cake appropriately named "The Motherlode." It's been featured on the Discovery channel for gosh sakes. I think I'll send on to my mom in NY for her birthday...well, it's in June...hmmm, maybe not the best time of season!

I also snagged the Star Wars Trilogy from my in-laws on Thanksgiving Day, and we watched Star Wars tonight. Ya know, I don't think I'd ever seen the whole thing through...cause the story was completely new to me. All I knew was Vader was bad, the Deathstar blew up due to some well-aimed shots, and the nerds loved Leia.

Now, I am well versed on the story that is "Episode IV" and I look forward to Empire tomorrow. At least this time, I'll be up-to-date on the story by the time the final installment (Episode III) comes out in May. I probably need to see the first two again as well. Geesh!