Travalon's Birthday Zoo Trip

 

Today was Travalon's birthday, and what he really wanted to do was go to the Milwaukee Zoo, so we drove to it and parked some distance away for free rather than paying for parking on top of paying to enter the zoo. We went all over and saw all kinds of wonderful creatures, but I'm having issues getting all the photos to download to my computer Boethius, so tomorrow I'll post some. There are some really good ones. We ended up walking over four miles at the zoo, so by the time we got back to the car, we were really tired. We hadn't eaten lunch yet, and right away we came upon Mo's Irish Pub, so we stopped there. The food was really good! Travalon had the fish and chips, and I had a grilled cheese sandwich with bacon and avocado and a cup of tomato soup, then we splurged and split the giant, fresh-baked chocolate chip cookie with ice cream on it. 

After that, Travalon wanted to go to the Waukesha Antiques Mall, and I found a number of rosaries. One was a Stanhope rosary, missing a number of beads so it will be... interesting to pray with, but the window is still in the cross, and you can still see a picture of Mary and Baby Jesus when you peer through it. I think it's made of bone - I've seen ones like it for hundreds of dollars online, but this was only $24, so either the seller didn't realize what they can be worth, or it's not worth as much because of the missing beads. Who knows? I'm not planning to resell it. I also got a small, garnet-colored teddy bear and a mandolin music box, since I'm a sucker for anything that looks like a miniature version of my old-fashioned mandolin. Travalon was very excited to find a Lego Exxon gas station and a bigger stuffed Wally Gator than the tiny one he found at an antiques shop last year.

On the way home we stopped at the Country Christmas lights display, which was really beautiful and had some cute parts, like the teddy bear village. It looks like some of the photos have downloaded, so I will see if I can post them. It's too late and I'm too tired to keep fighting with my phone, Travalon's phone, and my computer Boethius. This first one is actually from a few days ago: just an example of the blacklight things I got on Small Business Saturday. These are alphabet stickers.

This is my present to Travalon: a Popeye Funko Pop!

I'll have to post photos of the animals at the zoo tomorrow, but here are some decorated trees at the zoo, and a closeup of some of the ornaments on the closest one, with a sea creatures theme.

We took a short walk along the Fox River in Waukesha. Here the lights are reflecting off the river.

This is a cool arch along the riverwalk.

And here are some photos from the Country Christmas display: The Candy Factory and the Northwoods Express.

Here are the garnet-colored teddy bear and the mandolin music box that I got.

Travalon had ordered a miniature Persian teapot and cups on Monday, and when we got home, it was already waiting for him!

Finally, these are the rosaries I bought. The Stanhope one is in the center. The bracelet at the bottom isn't actually a rosary, but I liked the cross on it.

Stay tuned for photos of animals at the zoo!

Famous Hat