We are on a family vacation in the American southwest. Phoenix, where my parents live in the winter months, is the hub for our activities, but yesterday we drove to San Diego. There is a kitchenette in our room, so we walked to a nearby Trader Joe's, where I felt like Ben Franklin entering Philadelphia and discovering that he could get three loaves for what in Boston would purchase only one: the wine known to me as "3-buck-Chuck" costs just $1.99 per bottle here. It's available in the grocery store, too. As is right and proper. When Amanda made a Facebook post concerning my satisfaction, someone pointed out that a 1000-square-foot house here costs at least a half million, thereby setting her up to reply that, factoring in the wine savings, we might be able to swing the house. Smart aleck!
Today we took the kids to the zoo. It would get a chapter in the Eric the Blue version of A Supposedly Fun Thing I'll Never Do Again. The most exotic fauna on display are the ones that paid $42 to get in, and you don't have to go to the zoo to see them. I have to say, however, that I like the monkeys, especially the big apes. The fundamentalists, including I guess Rick Santorum, say it's crazy to think they're our next of kin, but I don't doubt it in the least. Maybe he's never seen one peel a banana.