Welcome back, Kotter

So I just got back from my whirlwind Minnesota Tour. Chrissa was thirsting for some good old fashioned snow, since she's from Minnesota and hates Texas. I needed a break from work, too. It recharged my batteries to be able to sleep in motel rooms and not even set a clock.

We spent some time sledding out by a frozen lake with Chrissa's nieces, mom, and brother. We also spent a couple of nights in the Bingo hall and even hit up a Casino ... Total earnings: $340. Not a bad vacation's work, I'd say.

We flew back to Dallas, where Chris' convinced me to go to the aquarium. She loves anything with fur or feathers, so it's tough to keep her out of zoos of any sort. Me, I don't really like aquariums all that much. I don't know why. I think they smell. But we went anyway, since we had to kill a few hours before we could meet up with an old roommate of mine, Arjay, and go to dinner. It ended up being the best aquarium I have ever seen. It's called the Dallas World Aquarium, but the name belittles it. It was more like the Dallas Tropical Experience and you almost feel like a macheteer hacking your way through a jungle.

What was so intresting about this place was how each level of the building focused on a different stratum of jungle: so if you were on the very top level, all of the animals were animals you'd find in the jungle's canopy; then, as you wind your way down, you'd find lower tree-living creatures, then ground creatures then cave creatures and then water. It was an actual descent into the earth, with actual trees, waterfalls and river pools all along the way. There's even a transparent plastic tunnel you walk through where sharks are swimming all around you.

In the aquarium proper, there were a dozen or so displays from all over the world. My favorite was a dark-lit display of moon jellyfish from Palau. The backdrop was blackish and there was a dim light illuminating it. The water churned slowly, so the jellyfish were gyrating in a circle. They didn't move. Just floated. They reminded me of disembodied spirits floating in space.

Afterwords I convinced everyone to go to a Greek restaurant and then we visited the Grassy Knoll...seeing as how we were in Dallas and all.