Korea: Blind Alley Raccoon Cafe

Is there any animal that you feel a particular kinship with? Like, do you see an eagle soaring high above it all majestically silhouetted against the bright blue sky and feel like there's a special significance, a certain similarity shared between your personal essence and the animal? I used to think that I had that sort of quasi-spiritual-groove with dolphins, who seem to appear near me when in bodies of water they frequent, but these days I find I chalk that up more to the mind seeking to connect the dots and form a meaningful pattern to make it special rather than actually being something special. Dolphins, in all their majestic flippering and gratitude for all the fish, are also a bit rapey and scary, too. Did you know that Flipper and his friends will isolate a female from the pod and then take turns on her, gang-raping her for weeks on end and using aggressive posturing and behaviors to intimidate her into acquiescence? Like, DAMN, dolphin-dudes, chill! Any moderately attractive woman of post-pubescent age has probably, at some time or another, had to deal with the unfortunate human equivalent of those gang-rapist-creeps of dolphins, though hopefully in less full-out-forceful and trauma-inducing situations. I know I hate me some over-the-top jabronies, so my love for dolphins is dampened knowing they're those guys at the party. As if that wasn't bad enough, dolphins also have a habit of killing babies, whether it's another bottlenosed nosed dolphin or another species, and they're riddled with STDs! Yuck. Over it. 

But you know what animal is totally cute, has a super-fluffy tail, toe-beans, fancy-facial-attire, and a vaguely triangular-faced-monkey-like appearance? Raccoons, AKA trash-pandas! These little guys are vastly underappreciated! Look how adorable that sleepy little baby is up there on that railing! Don't you just want to rub his little feeties and boop that snoot?! Trash-Pandas, much like myself, are almost always up for a good snack and a nap, which I think are two traits almost any decent human can get behind. So when my friend Carmen informed me that there was actually this magical place tucked away in Seoul where you could grab some warm beverages with caffeine AND cozy up to some raccoons, you know I was on-board! 

Unfortunately, by the time we arrived most of the fluffy little cuties were quite sleepy and settled in for a nap, high above the reach of most visitors. There was one very happy, very friendly little corgie romping around who was more than eager to step in for pets and appreciation, so I found myself spending more time with that little sweetie. As much as I love the raccoons, I also understand how anyone can wind up cranky when woken from their nap prematurely, so better to let them get their Zs. 

Road Tripping: Virgin River Casino

In an earlier post I mentioned that there's a bounty of casinos in Mesquite within which you can find an assortment of food and entertainment options, and I wasn't kidding. Once the sunlight had dwindled enough to make outdoor exploring less optically exciting, we made our way to the air-conditioned and neon-lit casinos. Virgin River Casino is right off the highway exit, located on 100 East Pioneer Boulevard and quite close to the town's singular Wal-mart shopping center, so it's a convenient locale to grab a bite or stop for a night if you're passing through the area. We debated getting food in any of the many restaurants available, especially the buffet, but opted out of it and instead wandered the casino to see what options were available. We talked about going back for the seafood buffet but it never panned out in the end. No worries, though, as there are too many seafood buffets in this world for us to ever successfully eat at them all, and how much do you really trust the seafood in a small landlocked town? They DO have an airport, so at least you know they can get stuff flown in fresh, so realistically it might not be all that bad. The arcade definitely stood out to us, though we quickly felt out of place given our age and lack of children. There were so many kids, guys. So many. Maybe I'm spoiled due to catching most movies late these days, when they premiere, so the casinos housing the theaters are rarely packed with adolescents during my brief visits. This wasn't such a time, though- it was early evening on a weekend night and most kids had finished school for the year and were excitedly beginning their summer vacation. These things, they happen. We didn't need to blow our budget on quarters, anyhow.

It was entertaining to explore the casino for a bit, but for a couple of kids from Vegas a casino more or less ends up feeling kind of like just another casino... unless there are some serious theme and architectural majesty going on, like the Venetian with its canals navigating below the walkways with their singing gondoliers or the elaborate paintings and statues throughout Caesar's- and even then, once you're in the actual gaming areas, they tend to blur into the next. Is that just me? Whatever the case, we tried to capture some of the more unique aspects of this visit. Enjoy!

More photos below!

Road Tripping: Hafen Fishing Pond in Mesquite, NV

Upon actually making our arrival into the town of Mesquite, we had a fair bit of time free before we were obligated to be anywhere or do anything so we opted to use the time to explore. There are several casinos in Mesquite, like the Casablanca, the Eureka, or the Virgin River Hotel and Casino, if you're into gambling, buffets, bowling or arcades- or drinks, movies, live music... Casinos are pretty much a one-stop-shop for entertainment when you're traveling. A safe bet, as it were. At least, they are if you have money to spend and ample time to waste! We did explore some of the casinos later on, but while it was still nice and sunny out we figured it would be preferable to drive around the city and try to get a feel for the lay of it. Once you get away from the casinos, which tend to be clustered around the freeway exits like grapes on a vine,  it veers decidedly suburban. This makes sense, of course, as this isn't really a city built upon thriving masses of tourists, but rather a small town that takes advantage of it's proximity to transit hubs to feed their families and keep the town thrumming along. The residential areas stretch out into the edges of the desert, a diffusion of buildings unevenly distributed in pockets of new growth huddled together, blocks adjacent to vacant buildings dotting one of the larger streets.  There's not a lot of stop lights to be bothered about, and those there are proliferate in the business neighborhoods. Some of the neighborhoods were very new, but there's still many older buildings lingering around that have their own unique charms. It would seem that some of the money being brought in by the casinos has gone into the Parks and Rec department, because we found ourselves at the Hafen Fishing Pond which was a beautiful little park with a 2-acre pond sporadically populated with rainbow trout and catfish, alongside jogging/walking trails, playground, tennis courts... not to mention the miles and miles of open desert beyond, where BMX and ATV routes ran alongside the park's exterior. We saw several people dart past on the sandy paths, clouds of dust following their tires. 

We were happy just to have found such a lovely little park, but when the sprinklers came on it was a bonus awesome surprise. Riding in the van all day, despite the opening of many windows and utilization of fans, didn't leave feeling super great. A quick sprint through the sprinklers woke me right up and cooled me off considerably. We also chatted with a friendly gentleman with an adorable little dog, who told us a bit about the park and nearby area. There were families playing on the little playground near the parking area, enjoying the weather, too. Can you blame them? It was warm, but not the full brunt of summer heat yet, and with the waning sunlight it was growing even more pleasant. 

More photos below~