Took an East Bay outing to some spots I've wanted to check out for a while. First stop: The Vivarium.
Nothing like a whole bunch of snakes and insects to really give you the willies. After a few minutes the hairs on my arms stayed permanently upright.
This little reptile seemed alright.
These guys were cool, too. They kept spazzing out and dancing up to the glass.
Even the big old iguana looked friendly.
This on the other hand, not so much. That'd be the "constricting" part of the boa constrictor.
Also not a huge fan of big hairy spiders.
Somehow that doesn't make me feel any better.
Don't think I'd want to meet this one in the jungle either. That's a lot of lizard.
Got our fill of beady little eyes and headed off to the Bone Room.
Skeletons galore and every type of bone you can imagine, even little kitten's feet. Rabbit pelts, butterflies in glass, taxidermied cane toads, you name it. The Vampira-admiring shopkeeps kept me a little camera shy, so you'll just have to go see for yourself.
Picked myself up a new treasure on the way out.
Then off to the wonders of Urban Ore. So much cool stuff packed into that place.
So here's where things get really neat: I'm looking through the books and happen across this biography of Richard Halliburton I'd looked at in the library one day and meant to go check out when the current bedside stack dwindles down. During the 20's and 30's Halliburton fascinated the American public with his adventures, sort of a real life Indiana Jones who explored exotic places and dove into an ancient "Well of Death" and whatnot. Oh, and swam the Panama Canal. The long way. Right, so naturally I'm happy as a clam and flipping through the photo plates and what do I find?
As the Zombies said "This will be our year, it took a long time to come."
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Want to find your own treasure? The East Bay Vivarium is in Berkeley at 1827 5th St near Hearst and the Bone Room's also in Berkeley at 1569 Solano Ave. The mother of all junk piles sits at 900 Murray St just off the Ashby exit. That'd be Urban Ore and if you haven't been already (is that possible) you owe yourself a trip.