A Day Out: Sea Creatures and Scary People

Yesterday, J and I went to Six Flags Marine World in Vallejo, as I had a hankerin' to do something other than walk around and go window shopping in SF or Marin (our usual weekend activity).

So we drove across the GG Bridge and stopped for breakfast at Mama's Cafe in Mill Valley, a favorite spot with crazily eclectic decor, live piano music, friendly wait staff and great food. Fortified, we finished the drive over to Vallejo and parked in the second to last row of a humongous parking lot, dwarfed in a herd of mammoth SUVs. My car was one of 2 or 3 European models in the whole lot. (Oops, I forgot to buy American. Again.)

On our long, long walk to the front gates, we passed a large family (and by large, I mean: total combined weight rather than number of people) having a picnic in the parking lot and a heated discussion as to the location of the "meh-naze". Couldn't get more stereotypically hick-a-rific if ya tried. Sigh.

The rest of the day we felt like black-garbed, fashionably-shod fish out of water amongst all the trucker-hat-sportin', muscle-shirt-wearin', 8-kids-havin', Britney and Kevin F. lookalikes we stood in line next to.

But the people who I felt most sorry for (besides the animals of course) were the park employees who had to constantly remind everyone "Please don't climb on the rocks. Please stay on this side of the fence. Please don't splash the water. Please don't knock on the glass."

But boy, were the sea creatures and tigers and lions and giraffes CUTE!!

As we left, Jason said, "You are a true sylph next to these people!" And I said, "Hmmm, I felt like I fit right in, weight-wise."

Sigh again.