Made it!

Finally, after a very strange day, I am able to sit down and relax. Last night I had intended to go to bed early to get enough sleep for the drive down to North Carolina but, for a variety of reasons, I did not get as much rest as I wanted to. There wasn't much I could do about this, though, and my wife and I hit the road at 12:30 AM.

Except the stops for gas, I drove 9 and 1/2 hours straight. Rather than heading straight for the hotel, though, my wife and I started out day in North Carolina at the NC Zoo, a location that was a lot farther away than I had anticipated. Many animals (polar bear, elephants, gorillas, chimpanzees, lions, giraffes, etc.) were not on display due to the cold weather, but my wife and I had not driven so far to turn back. The zoo staff greeted us, the "intrepid" folks from New Jersey, everywhere we went. For a few hours we were the only visitors there.

Even though many animals were not on display today I was very impressed by the NC Zoo. I look forward to visiting in the future, but today it was just as well that my visit was short. My wife and I had signed up for a tour of the Duke University Lemur Center (check out their new blog) in the afternoon and had little time to spare after we left the zoo. (Seeing the aye-ayes up close in personal was the highlight of the DLC visit. I never knew they could make sounds like that.)

When we were done, we were starving (we hadn't eaten anything except a few bits of pita bread since 7 PM the previous evening) and headed out to dinner. The food was good, and with one of our basic needs met, we have retired for the evening. I would love nothing more than to head down to the bar to meet and party down with my fellow science bloggers, but unless they're keen on propping me up, I don't think I have the strength to do it. I need a good night's rest, but I'm definitely looking forward to the commencement of the conference tomorrow.