Mensa (and other) fun

A lot of Mensans take time out before and after the actual Mensa gathering to stay in the town. That way you don’t miss any events and you have time for a little sight-seeing. This is the first time TYG and I tried it.
Tuesday of last week, we hit the Fort Worth Zoo. I wasn’t expecting much, but it turned out to be quite impressive. Lots of animals and very well-designed enclosures, both attractive to us and comfortable for the animals. We spent four and a half hours there and still missed a couple of creatures.
Highlights included seeing a bird-eating tarantula—

and also a cheetah (I don’t recall seeing one at a zoo before)
. There were also gharials, whip scorpions, giant salamanders, andean condors, pygmy falcons, toucans (first time I’ve seen a toucan fly) and a wide array of mammals and birds on top of that.

At the end of the week, TYG and I visited the Kimbell Museum and the Modern Art Museum just across the street. Small museums but some really striking works, including Picasso, Monet, Caravaggio, Munch, African statuary and the first-ever painting by Michelangelo. Done when he was 15, no less.

In between there was lots of hanging out, including a pub crawl Thursday. I’m not a drinker, but I did enjoy going along for the company. TYG was quite surprised to discover everyone had donned tiaras and beauty-queen style sashes (apparently she missed the online discussion)

When we asked one of our friends how the group pulled that all together, she replied with “LNT—Lady Nerd Tsunami! We get it done!” I love that phrase.
Food was adequate but not much more (the snacks between meals were disappointing. Almost no chocolate!). Fortunately we were in a downtown area with lots of eateries so we had no trouble finding alternatives. One night a couple of Mensans drove a bunch of us vegetarians to Spiral, which was a local Ft. Worth diner. Very good, with the added bonus of driving by the Tim Curry Justice Center (named for a local DA). In just seven days/they can con-vict a maa–aaa–an.
The same couple also took a bunch of us to a remarkable little hole in the wall the next night. Small building, rookie waitress, surly cook but excellent Middle Eastern food in spectacular portions (the falafel sandwich was easily a foot across). Astonishingly cheap too.
We had a blast. The only drawback to returning home yesterday was that picking up steam today was harder than I expected. I’m still glad we did it though.