Totally Texas -- Staying cool at the zoo

Penguin Days at Dallas Zoo

650 South R.L. Thornton Freeway (I-35)

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We headed for the Dallas Zoo this week, willing to bet that even on a seasonably cold winter day, we’d get our money’s worth from the zoo’s discounted Penguin Days admission of $5 per person. (Regular admission is $12 for adults and $9 for children.)

The boys were at first reluctant to go -- “it’ll be hot,” they said -- which shows what time of year we usually visit! Our first pleasant surprise was that, even during local schools’ winter break, the zoo wasn’t packed with visitors. We parked at the front gate instead of making our usual lengthy trek. Parking is $8 per car, although the DART rail line stops just outside.

There’s always room inside for the boys to run -- a standard requirement for any outing in our family. Some of the usual exhibits were closed while the zoo takes advantage of this slow season to so some remodeling. Signs warned us that the warthogs were “off exhibit” during remodeling, and we also found the giraffe feeding station closed because of the weather.

However, even most of the tropical animals in the Giants of the Savannah exhibit were outdoors and visible in spite of the cold. For the first time in my memory, we had a clear view of the lions during the 2 p.m. predator encounter near the Serengeti Grill restaurant. These big cat feeding/demonstration times take place at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. daily, alternating between lions and cheetahs. Our visit time coincided with the lions’ feeding, and cameras flashed like Oscar night as the zoo’s two male lions basked in attention and healthy treats from the zookeepers.

The encounter area is sheltered for both cats and visitors. But there are also great views of the lions from the floor to ceiling windows of the nearby Serengeti Grill restaurant.
Across the trail from the lions, the elephants also were active, reveling in mud baths and visible to visitors from the windows and deck of the adjacent pavilion.

Fortunately, though, some of the boys’ favorites attractions were indoor exhibits -- the bug house and reptile house, with its albino alligators and pythons, as well as plenty of normally-pigmented reptiles and amphibians. Don’t forget a few pennies for the kids to spend on the gravity feed coin toss benefiting conservation of the iconic Texas horned toads (actually lizards).

We lingered until closing time, catching dinnertime for the zoo’s African penguins, whose picture illustrates this post.

Penguin Days discounted prices continue through February 28 at the Dallas Zoo. For additional information, including feeding times and discussions, www.dallaszoo.com/.

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Speaking of animals, the animatronic dinosaurs of the Heard Natural Science Museum in McKinney continue on view through February 3. Power to the dinos’ sound and movement may be turned off in exceptionally cold weather, but the life size models themselves brave the cold. See www.heardmuseum.org/.
　

Totally Texas -- Please don't feed the dinosaurs!

Dinosaurs Live!

Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary

1 Nature Place, McKinney

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My daughter and I didn’t take the boys when we visited the dinosaurs at McKinney’s Heard Natural Science Museum because -- well, dinos aren’t just for kids. (Okay, we also had the excuse of checking things out to be sure they weren’t too scary for small boys.)

Although the Heard’s flock of dinosaurs changes each year, we were glad to see our old friend Tyrannosaurus rex -- a newer version -- guarding one end of the dinosaur trail.

If you’ve never seen the Heard’s dinosaurs, you may wonder -- are they really big? Well, the replica of Coelophysis, one of the earliest known dinos, is only three feet tall, about Shetland pony height -- if you can imagine a meat-eating Shetland with huge claws and fangs. To illustrate the size of the biggest ones, a worker putting finishing touches on Brachiosaurus posed for this post’s picture to give you a reference.

And thanks to the engineering of animatronics, the life-size dinos move heads, tails, sometimes legs (although staying anchored to their sites), and roar, growl or chirp with startling realism, considering they’ve been extinct for more than 65 million years.

Some of them are realistic enough to intimidate smaller children. The boys will probably edge warily around the replica of horned, 30-foot long Carnotaurus or “meat-eating bull” which terrorized South America about 100 million years ago.

But the trails through dinosaur territory are accessible to jogging strollers for quick escapes if things get too intense. Besides the nine life-sized, animated dino models, the route includes a non-animated “photo op” dinosaur. And for the truly tiny set, a sandbox with toddler-friendly models closer to the size of a golden retrievers.

After seeing the dinos, your family may well want some of their own. Luckily, there’s a source close by. Billings Productions in Allen, Texas, has been building animatronic dinosaurs since 2003, supplying the Heard as well as museums, theme parks and zoos around the world. I didn’t dare ask their prices, but for a list of their models, see
www.billingsproductions.com/.

Dinosaurs aren’t the only thing going at the Heard. We toured the tall-grass prairie preserved against the advance of suburbia. And although the butterfly house is now closed for the winter, the outdoor butterfly garden is in full bloom with native and adapted plants, and swarming with birds as well as butterflies.

The dinosaur exhibit will remain at the Heard through February 3, 2013. Fall/winter prices (through January 31) are $11 for adults, $8 for seniors (age 60 and up) and children ages 3-12. Free for kids age two and under. We splurged on a family membership, so dad and the boys can visit later. The Heard is located near the intersection of Highway 5 and FM 1378 outside McKinney. For additional information and events, see www.heardmuseum.org/.

Totally Texas -- Dragons & other monsters

For those of you, like me, who were surprised to find the Chinese New Year coming so early, here’s the rule for this combination of lunar and solar calendars. Oversimplifying a bit, the Chinese New Year falls on the second new moon following the winter solstice. This enables me to tell my daughter, born on January 19, that she is under the sign of what appears to be the previous year, not the Western calendar year of her birth.

This year, that beginning date is today, January 23. Happy New Year!

This year is under the sign of the dragon (one of the twelve animals of Chinese astrology). My twin grandsons (year of the dog) don’t care how it’s determined. They just think dragons are cool!

(And for something really cool, see the water dragon image writer/artist Heidi Berthiaume created for the year 2012 at the bottom of this page.  Since I was born in a water dragon year, I told her I had to have it, and she graciously consented.)

If you didn’t get enough festivities this past weekend for the beginning of the dragon year, the Trammel and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art offers a reprise the first Saturday in February, February 4, during its AdventureAsia: Family Days at the Crow programs. Free events run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 2010 Flora St., Dallas, 75210-2335.

The Crow Collection’s ongoing exhibits are always free. The museum is closed Mondays but open Tuesdays through Sundays from 10 a.m. - 5 p.m., and from 10 a.m. - 9 p.m. Thursdays. For a complete list of exhibits and activities, see www.crowcollection.org/

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Can’t wait another day for big scary monsters? Try Planet Shark: Predator or Prey? at the Museum of Nature and Science, 1318 South Second Avenue, in Dallas’s Fair Park. The exhibit, running through September 16, is open Mondays through Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., and Sundays from noon to 5 p.m. Several galleries include exhibits of shark evolution and biology, including fossil jaws and teeth like those in the picture accompanying this post.

One gallery (situated to the side) includes news footage of shark attacks and their aftermath, including exhibits related to the blockbuster movie Jaws. A sign warns it may
be too graphic for young children. I found the information fascinating, but it’s not stuff I’d take my not quite six-year-old grandsons through.

In conjunction with the exhibit, the museum’s IMAX theater currently shows the movie Sharks, with marine biologist Jean-Michel Cousteau, and Sea Rex: Journey to a Prehistoric World. Both movies run through May 25.

I was relieved to learn that, due to the length of the movies, the museum is not showing the TI signature film featuring time lapse photography of the Dallas skyline with them. Some may grieve, but time lapse and heights give me vertigo. Visit
www.natureandscience.org/ for ticket prices, show times, and other museum events.

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For my final monster suggestion, the Heard Natural Science Museum in McKinney continues its Dinosaurs Live! outdoor exhibit of life-size, animatronic dinosaurs through Sunday, January 29. The robotic dinosaurs move, roar, and in one case, spit water on unwary bystanders. My grandsons, not quite six, have seen and loved the exhibit in past years, but still find the roaring T. rex intimidating. See www.heardmuseum.org/ for times and ticket prices.

Totally Texas -- Robot dinosaurs invade McKinney

Heard Natural Science Museum & Wildlife Sanctuary

1 Nature Place, McKinney

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If I asked my daughter’s five-year-old twin boys to list their favorite dinosaur, it would probably be Tyrannosaurus rex. Still, when I wanted a picture of somebody shaking the paw of the animatronic T. rex at the Heard Natural Science Museum in McKinney, nobody volunteered. Except my daughter, of course. (She avowed a love of strange creatures from a young age.)

That said, the boys insisted that Mom follow the map from the visitors’ center to be sure they hadn’t missed any of the robot dinosaurs. The 46-foot T. rex joins several new life-size animatronic prehistoric creatures in the sixth annual Dinosaurs Live! Life-size Animatronic Dinosaurs exhibit that runs through January 29, 2012. The dinos move and roar (or otherwise vocalize) along the outdoor trails that also introduce kids and adults to the native flora of North Central Texas.

On our visit last week, the boys found some of the indoor exhibits closed for remodeling. But besides the dinosaurs, there are still exhibits of wild animals the Heard is rehabilitating and a butterfly garden of native plants whose colorful exhibits demonstrate to both gardeners and lepidopterists what can be done to create wildlife-friendly habitats.

In addition, the Heard has six and a half miles of hiking trails that wind through several habitats of the 289-acre wildlife sanctuary.

This Saturday, October 29, the Heard also hosts outdoor concerts featuring local artists from the Collin County Songwriters Association from 1-4 p.m. Admission to the concerts is included in the regular admission price. See www.heardmuseum.org/ for prices and schedule.

The Heard is open Tuesday through Saturday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. and Sunday from 1 to 5 p.m. (Doors close at 4 p.m. to ensure everyone gets a chance to tour the exhibits.)

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Also this week:

Friday, October 28, through Saturday, October 29 -- Palestine’s Fall Fest includes Texas State Railroad “Peanuts” ride with Snoopy and other events. See http://www.palestinechamber.org for details.

Friday, October 28, through Saturday, October 29, the Paris (Texas, that is) Antique Fair at Red River Valley Fairgrounds. See http://www.paristexasantinquefair.com

Saturday, October 29, through Monday, October 31, Half-Price Books’ 5803 E. Northwest Highway location in Dallas holds a haunted house from Saturday, October 29, through Monday, October 31, all day in the community room. There’s also a trick or treat scavenger hunt October 31 from 6:30 p.m. through 9 p.m. (while supplies last). See
http://www.hpb.com



　

Totally Texas -- State forecast: Sunny and Fair

State Fair of Texas

Fair Park, 1121 First Avenue, Dallas

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It was the opening weekend of the 2011 State Fair of Texas, and the question at the forefront of all inquiring minds was: what, in the name of sanity, is fried bubblegum?

Okay, maybe it was the question at the forefront of my mind. And despite a momentary flinching, I persevered to find an answer. Of all the concession booths in all the fairs in Texas, I had to walk into the only one that offers it. Actually, I had to consult page 12 of the free guide book available at information booths in the fair to locate it. It was site number four on the Big Tex Choice Awards Finalists’ map, near Gateway Plaza. I was headed for Gateway Plaza anyway, to see Cirque Shanghai, whose Chinese acrobats, from the looks of them, seldom consume fried foods. Much less fried bubblegum.

It didn’t look the way I thought it would. Fair foods seldom do. Okay, they’re often encased in fried dough. But it seemed so innocent and cookie-like, I forgot all the advice I ever heard about not swallowing your gum. Beneath the sopapilla-like dough was a center of pink goo that smelled and tasted like the Double-Bubble of my childhood. And then, quicker than a pig race, it slid down my throat and was gone.

It might be fair to say it was more fun to eat than yummy. And at nine coupons ($4.50 in real money), a little pricey. But that buys you three gobs. Share with friends.

One other epiphany: it’s been a few years since I went to the Fair, before DART’s Greenline trains stopped at the front gate. For somebody brought up on a culture of parking in people’s front yards or walking what seemed like miles to get from public parking to the fair, this was a revelation. Despite previous problems with the relatively new Fair Park Station, this year’s transportation was a dream.

A few words of warning. If you buy the Fair entry/DART combo at Kroger’s, you may have to prompt the clerk to give you the $17 package (which would otherwise be $16 for a Fair ticket and $4 for a DART day pass). And if you change trains downtown, as I did, you need to look for those labeled “Greenline, Buckner Station” to get to the fair. Some trains are labelled “Fair”. Some aren’t. Ignore anything labelled “Special.” When you leave the fairgrounds, look for “N. Carrolton” trains to get back to downtown. And follow the advice of DART employees to move to the front of the stop. Front of the train cars were virtually empty, while those close to the gates were packed.

After several hours of pounding the fairgrounds, there was one other attraction I had to sample -- a foot massage chair. It was only a quarter (half a coupon in Fair money), but I’d give it a thumbs down. Maybe that should be a toes down. Save your money for the fried bubblegum.

The State Fair continues through October 23. Check http://www.bigtex.com/ for daily information.

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Other ongoing attractions in North Texas:

-- Autumn at the Arboretum, Dallas Arboretum, 8617 Garland Rd., Dallas. Through November 29. See www.dallasarboretum.org/

-- Animatronic dinosaurs at the Heard Natural Science Museum, 1 Nature Place, McKinney. Through January 29, 2012. See www.heardmuseum.org/