August 17, 2002

I pose with Miller, an adult male California sea lion.

This was a good day, for many reasons, but it was also the most horrible day ever.

I came to the aquarium early, and just hung around. I started work on my stuff earlier than usual, and got everything cleaned really quickly. I prepared the food for the divers early, and Crystal showed up, so she prepared the food for the exhibits while I had my sea otter encounter.

It was a little weird, because the night before I had a dream that Charlie, the male sea otter, had somehow escaped and was chasing me around the aquarium. Well, in reality, he didn't, heh. But I got to meet him through a plexiglass wall.

He's an Alaskan sea otter, and they're a lot bigger than I thought they were! They also have very pointy teeth. Really cute though. =) So I fed him through the little hole in the plexiglass, and got a picture of him standing up against the window with me next to him on the other side.

Later, I was told I could go in with the sea lions during their training session. =)

Charlie poses with me. They were all blurry of him - this was the best I could do.

Crystal fed everything, so I just quickly took the divers' food upstairs and cleaned off the food cart. Then I waited for the trainers and went outside with them to the exhibit.

I got to be with Miller, the adult male sea lion. That was pretty cool, because I remember seeing him at an amusement park when I was little. He's absolutely enormous! Wow... I got to rub his back, and give him a few signals. He sprayed snot and fish scales on me in return, heh. But that was an amazing experience. =)

That done, I finished up a few things I had left, and then just hung around. At closing time, I walked around the exhibits a bit, since it's not crowded then, and took some pictures.

I managed not to cry until I was alone, which is a good thing, I suppose.