A Visit to the Indianapolis Zoo

Last week I had a marvelous break from the busy-ness of summer. I went to see my folks in Indiana and it was restful. I slept and read and wrote on my book and evaluated the summer and slept and read and played.

Wednesday evening we went to something called 'Beef and Board' to have dinner and watch the live production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers. We explored the quaint Canal Zone of downtown Indianapolis, ate in a restaurant that was a renovated church, and on Saturday we visited the Indianapolis Zoo. The kid in me of course loved the zoo. It was the highlight of my vacation.

Now that isn't a bad week, especially when you stop to think that my mom is 91 and dad is 89. I had to giggle a bit when we went to the zoo because here I was going to the zoo like I was kid, only my parents are all grown up and taking their 63 year old daughter! Didn't matter. We had a ball.

All three of us throughly enjoyed the dolphin show which by the way - in case you go to the Indianapolis Zoo - is very well done. I marvel at how intelligent dolphins are and love that we humans are discovering what they can do.

Later in our day we stopped for lunch and watched the elephants perform. The trainers were clever, kind and loving toward their huge elephant friends. After the show, they invited everyone in the audience to stroke the leathery hide of their new elephant acquaintances and ask questions. No question was a stupid question. Every question was answered.

Now because mom and dad and I had just finished eating lunch from one of the nearby zoo concession stands, we were the last ones out of the arena area. Thoughtfully showing off his pride and joy, one trainer brought his elephant to visit with us and invited the elephant to perform a few of the 50 tricks he is trained to do.

It was awesome. I think if I didn't work with horses, I might want to work with elephants! You're laughing! I can hear you! But you know, those elephants loved being touched by everyone the same way our horses like to be touched. I could feel a connection as I looked in the elephant's eye and realized the trainer was helping his elephant keep the 'stroke bank' full.

So here's a thought. One of our camp safety rules is "Watch your elephants". Maybe we truly should take on some elephants and use them to challenge our advanced riders? Or maybe we could use them as the literal interpretation of the safety rule. Wouldn't it be fun to clean their stall after a night in the barn? You thought you had it bad last summer!

I know some new people won't have a clue about the "Watch your elephants" safety rule. So I'll simply conclude by saying that is our Sprucelands way of alerting riders to keep a big space between their horse and the other horses around them. That way no one gets kicked. Hmmm. I wonder what the horses would think of including an elephant in their ring lessons. Just imagine.