Unless you haven't seen me complain lately, this week is going to be rough. Asa and I had big time Disney plans. Like, dining plan, Wild Africa Trek, Cirque Du Soliel, 6 nights, 7 days of amazingness. But, Covid.
So instead, Disney got canceled. And here we are.
We've decided to try and come up with some socially distant things we can try and go out to do. So, we started with the zoo. I was most hesitant about this one. But we called and they said weekdays had been really slow, and they even checked on our encounters we had booked to see how many people were booked for them.
Now, this was before Florida started spiraling out of control. A week ago... when we were all shocked at 2,000 cases. I started this blog last Monday. But, I'm just now circling back to it. And life has.... changed.
In the last week Florida cases have climbed to, what I think, is out of control levels. Now, keep in mind Florida doesn't report hospital availability. But some hospitals do report it. And today, our smart governor said he didn't want hospitals to report people in ICU but people who are in ICU and require "intensive-level care". What exactly does he think ICU stands for? At least in the recent days he's gotten off the train of the reason we have more cases is because of more testing (it's not, we were seeing like a 3% increase in testing, but like an 80% increase in cases). He is toting though, that look at our average age decreasing. And it is, so that's probably good, since younger people don't seem to be AS effected. However, to say our average age in March was 65 is a little crazy, because you could basically only get a test if you were over 60. So, who knows how much it's really gone down.
And here's the thing, it's not JUST that we topped 4,000 cases in a SINGLE DAY. I've been out this week. It's bananas out there. Sure, employees at *most* places are wearing masks. But, probably less than 25% of customers are. (And I think I'm being generous). Social distancing doesn't seem to be a top priority. There are radio commercials about "getting back to normal", there are movie screenings and bands playing. There are signs for summer camps, you guys my lodge in my subdivision is back to having events. Wanna go to taco Tuesday, or the movie? Come on down!
Tampa, St Pete, and Orlando issued mandatory masks for everyone when they are inside public places, which I feel like should help some. But, I'm so annoyed with everyone who is a pissy pants about masks. I get it isn't fun to wear them in 100 degree heat. But, this is how we get some freedoms back. We all wear masks. And not like, some of us. All of us. At least that's the way the science is pointing. So what if the science turns out to be wrong? At best wearing a mask is slowing the spread, at least I'm inconveniencing myself because I'm concerned about the greater good. But, people are complaining, like if you don't like the fact people aren't going to wear a mask, then stay home. And I'm like, why does that not apply if we say "you don't want to wear a mask? then stay home." It's not like I can just wear my mask and protect myself. I have to rely on YOU to wear your mask to keep me safe. Ugh. I so wish it was the other way around.
Anyway, to me, it seems like Florida gave up- like America gave up. Why did we open so fast? Why didn't we wait to see the data from each phase before moving on to the next one?
At least I'm glad the numbers were the numbers last week. If they had increased that many the week before anniversary week, we probably would have been too freaked out to go out--even though we practiced social distancing, and wore a mask, and went exclusively to places that were outside.
So back to last Monday. We headed off to the zoo. You had to sign up for reservations in addition to your ticket/pass, but I had no problem getting them. When we arrived there were social distancing markers, and security like normal. They also took your temperature. But there really was no line, and we moved through each phase quickly.
Masks are optional at the zoo, at least while you are outside. They are required, however, for the encounters. All the staff were sporting masks, but again, that's great they aren't spreading it- but what about keeping them safe? When you go inside buildings though, they are required, and there is an employee handing them out if you need one (and making sure everyone wears one- I worked at an amusement park, I know how much people read-or rather don't read-signs).
Again, the zoo on Monday morning, though, was virtually empty. So it was easy to stay 6 feet away from people. In fact, except for my encounters, I didn't even come within probably 4 times that.
Some exhibits have a new makeshift barrier to keep you from getting within six feet of the animals. You couldn't get near the petting zoo part, the bobcats, or the meerkats.
And most of the rides were not running. Some where- like the carousel (and nobody in that line was wearing masks or social distancing. Looked like a totally normal line- but again, easy to avoid if you wanted, so obviously we didn't go near anyone there).
All the drinking fountains had been shut off, and there were hand sanitizer stations everywhere, including after you came out of the bathrooms.
And of course, lots of signs reminding you to stay 6 feet apart.
Our first encounter of the day was with the penguins. They've spit this encounter into more sessions to have less people in each one. The day we went was the first day encounters were back at the zoo (the zoo had been opened since late May), so the employees were just getting their bearings. So, there were a few hiccups. First of all, like I said, masks are supposed to be required on encounters- but not for a visit to the zoo in general. Our encounter this go around had four other people in it. As we stood waiting, those people did not put their masks on. (We were outside and able to back up much more than 6 feet away from them). In fact, we went all the way into the seating area and sat down before the zoo employee asked them to put on masks.
But, again, we were outside and more than 6 feet away from them, so I wasn't too panicked about the masks. But, we ran into a similar problem at our second encounter. Hopefully they start asking people to put on their masks as they wait for the encounter, and not just once they get everyone in.
Enough of that though, we've got penguins to meet. Including Tinkerbell (that's the only one whose name I remember).
The penguins are given free reign and can come up to you if they want. And if they do, you're free to pet them! The ones who had just finished molting were very soft!
And we also got to play with them with some toys. They seemed to like the shadow from the toy more than the toy itself.
So, we hung out with them until it was time to head back to their enclosure.
After our visit with the penguins, which was awesome by the way, we explored the zoo a bit before our next encounter.
For most of our time at the zoo, there were very few people around. You could pull down your mask, and walk around, and you rarely even saw someone else, and when you did, it was very easy to keep your distance.
And if you were ever even close to people, it was easy to pull your mask up.
Now, while it was VERY empty when we were there, it did start to pick up the closer we got to lunch time. But we were planning on leaving after our noon encounter.
Which was with the tortoises! You used to be able to feed them, but it's changed to just a petting encounter. No worries, these guys love pets, especially on their necks and the inside of their shell!
So, the bad here- everyone stands around outside this gate, while a keeper talks to you about the tortoises. This creates a crowd. A crowd of people that don't have their masks on, even though they have to have their masks on for the actual encounter. We backed up so far, I couldn't really hear what the keeper was saying, just because we felt uncomfortable sitting in the group. It made even less sense, because they only let you in the gate one group at a time, so once you were in the gate and required to pull up your mask, you weren't within probably 15 feet of anyone else. The only time you were with the group was outside the gate, where nobody wore their mask. Ugh. People. I'm thinking the zoo will work out these kinks as time goes on. We were their first ones.
Once you get into the encounter, there is a keeper, with a mask to answer any questions you might have, and tell you all about the 46 year old tortoise.
And you could pet him and give his inside shell some rubs (which he loved!) He kind of felt like Delano on steroids. But the inside of his shell was super smooth.
And he's really good at taking selfies.
I loved him so much.
There's two smaller tortoises too. They're both girls. One of them is a rescue tortoise. They found her on Sligh avenue (so her name, is fittingly, Sligh).
I actually think I enjoyed the tortoise encounter more, but I have visited the penguins at the Florida Aquarium, so that wasn't totally new to me.
The zoo was picking up when we headed out, but not too bad. Asa and I both agreed we felt safe for the most part there, but we could see how it would be overwhelming on a weekend.
We decided to stop by Portillos for lunch. But, still, eating in a restaurant freaks us out. So we had a picnic in the car instead. We considered heading to a park for a picnic, but Italian Beef Sandwiches don't really keep for long. You want them to be soggy, but not too soggy.
When we got home, there was an Amazon delivery. Asa had ordered us some enhancements for the popcorn maker. Peyton was most excited about them.
And then we headed over to the neighbors pool. In case you missed it, we were house sitting and as our reward they told us to use the pool as much as we wanted. So, it was in heavy use this last week.
Asa and I also had a couple projects to work on for the week, so we would stay busy at home. (It was best not to focus on what we should have been doing all week, it was easy to get depressed that way). We ordered a few hundred pictures- all in black and white- from the last ten years and decided to make a whole wall of them in our room. (Thanks to a plant shelf we have a nice rectangular wall in our room.)
And after some pictures, we headed back to the pool for a cookout dinner.
The neighbors also told us to help ourselves to the grill.
Monday the 15th would have been my grandpa's 100th birthday, so we had an Ainsworth Zoom Party. We joined from the pool.
So, that was it for our Monday. I think I'm going to try and do a blog for each day this week and get caught up in the next few days. And then I'll bring back our tallies. Asa is back at work and has a ton of emails and essential actions to catch up on, plus all his students to catch up with. So, I'm back to hanging out in the blanket fort with Hayden.
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