Mammoth Hunt

I don't mean that the hunt was humongous. I mean I went looking for a Mammoth. A real honest to goodness mammoth. The fact that it's been dead over 18,000 years means it shouldn't have been all that hard to find, cuz he's not exactly roaming or anything. The Suzukis went to see it a couple of weeks ago, and told me about it. The Russians found this mammoth in the permafrost, so there were parts of him still frozen....like his head. And it was currently on display at the Toyohashi Zoo Park. The Suzukis had to wait in line to see him for 2 hours. I wanted to see the mammoth bad enough to drive to Toyohashi, but not bad enough to wait in line for that long. So I decided to go on Monday, one of my days off. Except they are closed on Mondays. So, I got all my lesson planning done early and go today as my first class doesn't start 'til 4:00. I had hoped to start out at 9:00 and be there before 10:00, but that didn't happen. Through a comedy of errors, I didn't arrive there until 11:30. But I did arrive. And the driver there was really lovely, skirting the coast like it does. And the mammoth was pretty cool. The skin is all mummified, and he's missing his trunk. But he's got the huge tusks...and he still has some hair in places! I decided it wasn't macabre, seeing a head alone like you might think. It was very reverential and awe inspiring. It was probably educational for people who could read Japanese as there were exhibits describing it all. Afterwards I wandered around the various gardens they have there, and watched the kids on school trips, ate some lunch, read my book for a bit and then went to visit my freinds the Rhinos. But I couldn't make myself go any farther into the zoo. So I decided I was finished and made the return trip home. I had to call Mr. M. and postpone my usual trip to his place to make copies until tomorrow. This, of course, created a small panic, but finally an agreeable solution was worked out and the tizzy was abated. But let's not forget I found the mammoth I was searching for...that in itself is an achievement.