Cape Cod – May 1999 (Part Three; ZooQuarium)

SEA LIONS, AND LLAMAS, AND TURKEYS, OH MY!

When travelling with others, you should check ahead to see what attractions are out there, so you can plan what you want to see in order to maximize your time at a location.  I’ll say I didn’t have much of a hand in planning this, as the others said they knew what was there.  I was rather content to go with the flow.  I have to say there were many other local places (some historical, some not) which we probably could’ve checked out.  A stop at the local Chamber of Commerce (which usually has a Visitor’s Center) is an invaluable resource.  Having everyone in the group agree on wanting to see the same things is also good.

One of the places we heard about nearby was ZooQuarium.  From the name, it sounded like a mixture of a zoo and aquarium.  While not strictly a zoo they way we’d think of it, it was more of a refuge for regional animals (both land and sea), with some notable imports.  I consider areas like this to be game preserves.  This was founded originally in the late 1960s as the “Aquarium of Cape Cod” and “Aqua Circus” as a haven for tropical fish and dolphins.  The place re-branded itself to its current name in the late 1980s when they replaced the dolphins with sea lions, and added other critters.

We wandered around one of the buildings and saw this sitting up on a roof looking at us.  First we thought it was sneaking in for a meal, but then we figured it was hanging out on the top of its habitat.

Because of a current running joke we had in the Pagination Department at work, I had to take a picture of the llama in the petting zoo area.  Brian commented about the way Chaz was walking around, with his chest all puffed out, it was like a peacock showing off its feathers.  So when we found the turkey here, it seemed appropriate to Chaz’s picture next to it.  When looking at the shot, we couldn’t tell who was the bigger turkey.  >grin<

The main thing we’d come to see was the sea lion show.  Performing animals are always interesting.  Since it was the middle part of the day, there wasn’t that big of a crowd.  The sea lion plopped into the pool, and did a number of laps in order to build up speed.  The trainer had set up some hoops which the sea lion jumped through.  Each successful trick earned a fish treat.  The sea lion might be living in captivity, but it seemed to enjoying himself.

One trick that was done I thought was really cool.  A yellow ball was suspended about a dozen feet above the level of the pool.  The trainer told us what was coming next, but it was still impressive to see.  After getting a couple laps under his belt to build up some momentum, the sea lion launched himself out of the pool and knocked the ball around.

The sea lion show was the highlight of this area, but it was worth watching it.  Afterwards, we got to meet the star of the show.  Chaz may have simply been going up to get an autograph, but I think he ended up with its phone number.  At least one of us made some headway in a casual relationship this weekend, so what if it was with a different species completely.

HALF-A-LOBSTER

We stopped at a place to get dinner, and it was one of the nicer venues we’d gone to.  Everyone talks about how good Maine lobster is, but I’ve always been partial to lobster which has come from Nova Scotia (thanks to Shawn’s yearly family trips).  I really don’t think there’s much of a difference, because it’s for the most part the same water they’re being brought up from.  When ordering a lobster from a restaurant in Cape Cod, it’s going to be pretty similar.  Lobster is good, no matter where I have it.

I ordered what was listed on the menu as “steak and half-a-lobster.”  It seemed pretty descriptive enough, so I didn’t think I needed to ask any questions about it.  We continued with whatever conversation we were having until dinner arrived.  When my plate arrived, I was surprised, because what I saw didn’t match in my mind what I’d asked for.  For some reason, I just assumed I’d be getting a lobster tail, which is still half of the lobster.

What was sitting on my plate was half of the lobster, the right half.  It looked like the lobster was cut length-wise on a ban saw.  There was half the head, half the body, one claw, and half of the tail.  It provided us a bit of amusement.  Eating it was easy, because I didn’t have to break through the shell to get at most of it.  The meal was good, and when I mentioned to the server what I thought I was getting, he got a chuckle out of it too.

After we returned to The Cove, I didn’t feel like playing any more cards.  It was too nice to be indoors.  The resort was packed full of people, many cute college students, and none we’d had much interaction with.  We’d been informed about the nearby Mill Hill Club, which was a dance club a lot of the area young people went to.  To me that wasn’t a very feasible prospect.  While it was no further from The Cove than Davidson Brothers was from my apartment, I know those streets well-enough to traverse them after dark.  My level of stupidity only goes so far, thus I won’t wander around in familiar areas after dark.  So I decided to take a walk around the grounds to see what interesting things I could stumble upon.  This was different, as I could maintain some control of my surroundings by staying on the resort grounds.  Since it was after sunset when I started my sojourn, I didn’t bring the camera with me.  I was more interested in the social interaction I could find than taking any pictures.

The grounds of The Cove were pretty varied, but there wasn’t an actual “walking path” which would take me around the complex.  Some times there were sidewalks, but most of the time I was wandering across grass, and occasionally between some shrubs.  The buildings weren’t that far from the inlet, so water was close by.  It didn’t appear to be designed as a beach or swimming area, and I certainly wasn’t going to attempt to wade in an unfamiliar area after dark.  Whenever I heard sounds of louder music, I went by and investigated.  I wasn’t going to simply crash a party, but if someone invited me in, it’s not crashing.  I turned out to be a pretty relaxing walk.

There was one instance of a girl standing out on an upper balcony waving to me.  She commented she was bored at the gathering she was in, and I suggested I could come up and chat in an effort to make her less bored.  A shadowed form then came to the patio door and called her back inside, which she reluctantly appeared to do.  I hung out there for a few moments to see if she returned, as it wouldn’t be too difficult to locate the room if there was an invitation.  I didn’t want to be too much of a lurker, and when it looked like she wasn’t coming back out, I finished my walk around the area.

DARK CITY AND A PHANTOM MENACE

Face it, we’re geeks.  Not only did we play cards in the evening while we were there, but I ran Brian and Chaz through a short RPG adventure so they could be woven easier into the TORG campaign I was running.  The plan was to be back for that week’s gaming session with my regular group, and the Game Master always wants to work in guest players as seamlessly as possible.

Half way through the week, we tipped over to the local movie theatre because a certain “long awaited movie” we thought was opening that night.  It turned out we were a couple days too early, so we found a movie that we did want to see.  Dark City with Rufus Sewell and Keifer Sutherland was pretty good, even though we guessed the major revelation in the end.  There was hardly anyone in the theatre with us, so we spread out along the seats a bit.

When it was time to leave The Cove, and had Bete Noire packed, it was a bright sunny day.  Having another day here would’ve been nice, but the way Brian’s time-share worked was only specific days to specific days.  Hey, it was a good location to spend a week, and use as a base of operations to explore the area.  There was so much here, we were only able to scratch the surface of what’s here.

We got back to Albany, and delayed the northern leg of our journey back to Glens Falls for just a couple hours.  Since Crossgates Mall was nearby, we shot over there to watch our “long awaited movie.”  It had opened the previous night, so the theatre was still full, but we were able to find seats.  Hearing the familiar John Williams theme coming from the big screen again was awesome, and the rest of the movie was decent.  That provided grist for debates on the drive back to my apartment on what the point of Jar-Jar was, and what the Jedi Prophecy could mean.  Brian felt the prophecy skipped a generation, as it was Luke who ultimately brought balance to the Force.  It looked at it in a more literal way; since there were only two Sith at any one time, bringing balancing means killing all the Jedi but two.  A wanted to note a funny part when the movie ended, someone in the crowd said loudly “Do I have wait another twenty-five years for the next one?”

Because The Cove was within Brian’s family, and it was a nice area, the three of us talked about returning there next year.  Now knowing what was in the area, we would be able to see more things next time.

For current information on the places visited (or mentioned):

ZooQuarium:  http://zooquariumcapecod.net/

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