We should have known better...

So more adventure today! We drove into the mountains to check out Deer Creek Canyon and noticed while we were in the foothills that our gas light was on. We decided we should continue and fill it up on the way back. Continue up we did. No, our car didnt break down. We pulled into the parking lot that looked like the place we were supposed to be going. I grabbed our backback full of four bottles of water, a flint, some bandages and some neosporin spray and we studied the map infront of the trailheads to choose our route. It was 90 degrees out and the air was almost still. We took ten steps onto the trailhead, stopped and took a look around. This didn't look like the other hikes we'd been on that took us up rocky mountains (literally, they were covered in rocks)with trees and creeks. This seemed more barran. And it was hazy outside because of the heat. We quickly made a decision to get back in the car, go get some gas, and find another spot to explore nature for the day. After coasting down the mountain road trying to hit the gas peddle as little as possible we came to a 7eleven and filled up the car. As I was filling it up I suggested that maybe we get sushi before Rach headed off to work tonight. In her appreciation, since she likes sushi way more than I do, she suggested when I got back to the car that we go to the aquarium today instead of go hiking. The aquarium! I've been wanted to go since we got here! Woohoo! Goodbye haze, black bear warnings and heat stroke, we're goin to the aquarium! We drove back to civilization and in fifteen minutes found ourselves in the aquarium parking lot. Almost forty dollars later and a parking voucher that promised we'd pay $7 more on our way out, we were in! We had so much fun. Funny how for some reason, I don't feel as bad for the fish in the tanks as I do for the mammals in the cages at the zoo. All the fun and almost no guilt! We saw lots of fish, turtles, sharks, stingrays, sharks, snakes, SHARKS, and for some reason we didn't understand...tigers. One of the tigers had the same birthday as me! I still didn't understand what they were doing at the aquarium though. We were having a wonderful time. Eventually, towards the end we came to a tank with a bunch of different fish in it. all the tanks were only around four feet tall so if you reallly wanted to...you could touch the top of the water. There was a really cool looking yellow fish swimming on top of the water back and forth. I reached my finger out and touched its back very lightly and respectfully. Its back was very hard, almost like a shell although it didn't look like it had one. It must be internal? Well I got such a kick out of this that I called Rachel over to feel the fish. While we were peering over looking and skimming our fingers over the water to attract the little fishes attention we heard a very stern womans voice behind us say "Please don't touch the fish. Thank you!" Yikes! Busted! Jeez, there weren't even any signs to say not to do it. We weren't hurting them. It's not like we were grappling and trying to fish them out. I turned around to find some old, blonde bitch standing there wearing a tee shirt and fanny pack pushing around her old blonde friend in a wheelchair. When I say old, I don't actually mean old. I'd guess fifties or sixties, but hey, that's older than us. Did some bitch in a fanny pack just reprimand me in a public space? "Do you work here?" I replied, knowing quite well that she did not. "No". she said. "But does that really matter?" There was a pause. I couldn't believe this woman! I'm not some little 15 year old punk! I volunteer and use words like please, excuse me and ma'am and sir! Then as I'm registering all this she has the nerve to tell... "you should know better". I should know better! I don't even KNOW anyone more repectful or polite than myself, not to toot my own horn. And this STRANGER is telling me that I should know better. I told her to mind her own business and walked away. I dont' know why it bothered me so much. I was really angry. She talked to me like I was her child's friend. I went over my thoughts with myself. Was I angry because she was right? Should I know better? Was I doing something wrong? Wait...no! I wasn't doing anything to hurt the little fish. I was simply putting out my finger so that its back would graze my skin on its way by. I've learned to walk away when I get mad because I know my temper can escalate quickly. But I really wish I had told her that I was an adult and what I was doing and that she had absolutely no right to talk to me the way she did. She obviously thought I was younger than I am which bothered me even more. Damn this childish demeanor and adoloescent charm! After emerging from the path that brings you through the aquarium we came to something that would definitly cool me down! There was a little pool full of stingrays for you to guess what...guess what they were there for....TOUCHING!!! You could touch them! Ha! In your face fanny packed witch! I'm gonna touch the stingrays and you can't say anything! Not only could you touch them.. you could feed them! For less than three dollars you were given three dead little fish, each about the size of an adult pinky. A poster told us that we should hold the fish by the tail between our fingers while we were making a fist. Just the way you'd hold a key to punch an attacker...or some lady who can't mind her business! Feeding and touching the stringrays was a blast! You just held your fist under the water and they'd rub their nose on your hand, then swim over your hand so you can't see it (which is scary) and then it eats the fish. They were huge! And so soft and silky! It was the best part of the day and exactly what I needed after being yelled at for touching things! Because I have the best girlfriend EVER Rach let me do two fishes and she did it once. She's the best. After feeding the stingrays we got pretty hungry ourselves and decided to keep the aquarium excitment going by eating at the aquarium restaurant. Well, THIS we should have known better. The food was pretty bad and kind of expensive. We both expected it to be bad anyway, I mean, c'mon, its the restuarant inside the aquarium. But at least we got to watch sharks swim around while we were eating our horrible food. Now rach is at work and I'm home again watching TV. I've really gotten into Lifetime lately. The show REBA is actually really good! It's just way to hot to go outside! We might go out with Liz tonight which can only ensure two things. A great night and an awful morning. But, nothing good comes free right? Oh I almost forgot! Remember yesterday when I bought Rachel that good luck statue from Mt. Everest Imports? Well I used that information today to get me Nosz! Pernounced.. Noses. Nosz is my new, little stuffed stingray! I plan for him to live in the car, but for the time being he'll sleep with me until the excitement of a new stuffed animal leaves me. He was only two dollars more than Rachel's statue and we bonded in the gift shop regardless of the fact that Rachel was trying to rush me out before I got attached to anything. She should have held my hand and pulled me through so I couldn't grab anything! I mean, it's her fault... she should have known better... -lj