Hey Team,

One of the most common questions I get asked on this trip is, “Which one of the things on your list do you think will be the hardest to accomplish?” The unfortunate thing about today is now I’m going to actually have to think about my answer next time someone asks that question. My stock answer for the last couple months has been “#18 Pet a sloth.” But take a look at this picture!!!

That’s Doug from the Cincinnati Zoo on the left, you might recognize me on the right and that chick hanging out center frame is my new best friend Mo! (She’s slow…get it?)

The day started out bright and early with a drive to the Cincinnati Zoo where we met Dan Marsh, the Assistant Director of Education, who introduced us to Doug Feist (Yeah, that Doug.) the Animal Manager. Words like incredible, knowledgeable and friendly don’t do justice to either one of them, they both went above and beyond to let me have my little moment of sunshine and I’m not afraid to admit that I’m not a talented enough writer to aptly describe how much I appreciate it.

Mo had much longer and softer fur than I had expected. It was still relatively coarse…like horsehair only softer. She was also surprisingly animated and had made guest appearances on Jay Leno and Conan O’Brien. After petting Mo(!) and getting the quick tour of the educational animal room we took her down to the “rainforest” and let her climb up into her tree were she spends the day.

But did the fun stop there? Nope! My adopted entourage (read: fantastic hosts/the team that found the sloth connection for me without which I wouldn’t have been able to cross this one off the list so easily)

and I spent the next couple hours wandering the zoo before meeting back up with Doug to watch the cheetah’s daily run. Holy crab cakes those things are fast! 0-60 in less than four seconds!

I really can’t thank Dan and Doug enough for all their generosity and Olivia for all the legwork that led to our meeting with the zoo crew and the rest of the team (Ellen, Emily and Libby) for sharing the experience with me. Thanks so much, everyone!

That’s all I’ve got for tonight…I’m pretty exhausted. More on my Ohio adventures tomorrow PLUS, sloth petting video in a few days!

Excuse the site, there are quite a few changes in the works but only so the fun and excitement will be easier to navigate.

For now, I’m done.

Brett.

Welcome to the wonderful world of the kindness of strangers:

Why NOT be a kind stranger?

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This entry was posted on Saturday, October 6th, 2007 at 8:46 pm.