Norton Vacation 2006: August 4

We all woke up at 8:30 so Nicholas and I could go to the lobby and take advantage of the "complimentary breakfast" and bring it back to the room. They didn't have much to choose from, but the kids loved it. Fruit Loops, Rasin Bran and Frosted Flakes for cereal. Pastries included chocolate, powdered and star donut gems. Orange and apple juice. Bread for toasting. You get the picture.

We ate in our room, showered, packed the van and checked out at 11:00. I bought the Zoo tickets at the front desk and got $1 off each. We stopped by Kroger's to pick up some batteries for the camera and a cooler for all the food we had leftover from the room. Disposable cameras were on sale, so we got each kiddo a camera for the zoo.

When we got to the zoo, the main parking lot was full, so we had to go to the Vine Street entrance. We walked through the gates at 11:55. We walked out of the same gates at 6:15 exhausted and cameras full of pictures. To see some of the pictures Kathy took, click here for the slideshow posted on Norton Pics. The main attraction at the zoo was, of course, the koala exhibit. When we first visited, both were asleep with their heads tucked in so we couldn't even see their faces. About four hours later, as we were on our way to the gift shop, we stopped by the koalas again, and they were eating, and very animated.

Before we hit the koala house again, we stopped by the Rhino exhibit. The zoo had an Icam on the rhinos, so I called Bobby in Oregon.....Read about our techno geek rhino cam cross-country collaboration and see some captured images here.

After the zoo, we wanted to stop and get something to eat, so we dropped by the Florence Mall again (for the culinary variety) and there was some kind of grand opening goinf on. The parking lot was full and clowns on stilts were walking around the lot. We (Kathy and I) decided to try something a little less adventureous, so we got back on I-75 towards Richmond. We ended up stopping on an exit with a variety of fast food places on it. Kathy and I got Skyline to go and brought it into Burger King while the kids ate burgers.

We got home about 9:00.

The end.