In Eckleburg's Eyes - 3/7/2008

Thursday night marked my much anticipated trip to the circus. The Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus® was in town presenting “Boom A Ring”at the Knoxville Civic Coliseum. KLTW, KJW, RAW and I attended. As you can tell from this picture en route to the event, KJW’s expectations were very high.

We planned the trip several weeks ago. The discussion began with me noting my desire to take the child but that I had been advised, at 20 months, she was too young to go. RAW noted that she was his child and that he would decide what she was too young for. KLTW then chimed in that she had never been to the circus. With that, there was no doubt - we were going to the circus.

Before recapping the night, I must first vent about the cost. I paid $15 a seat for four seats in the bleachers. This is reasonable. The service charge was $17! There is something wrong when the service charge exceeds the cost of a ticket.

I had not been to the circus in years. The renowned elephant, King Tusk, who was thought to be the largest land mammal traveling the face of the earth while he was performing, was the big attraction the last time I went (1987).

The circus has seen better days. The three rings have been scaled down to one and the high wire was not even over the center ring. I think my living room has a greater diameter than the wire. The performers did not even use a net and I do not think it was because they were that well trained. The circus was so much bigger when I went as a child. I realize that part of the reason is that I am bigger, but they have definitely lost a step. RAW and I blame PETA.

KJW largely enjoyed the experience. The endless flashing lights captivated her. She ate popcorn and funnel cake for the first time. To say that she savored them would be an understatement. She liked the animals as well, especially the elephants. Unfortunately, the portion of the show we viewed was not animal centered.

She had little to no interest in the string of clowns, gymnasts, trapeze artists, tight rope walkers, etc. that paraded in front of us. Not to be cruel, but the child’s knowledge of gravity is severely lacking, which limited her appreciation. The acts were also one trick ponies that stayed on stage too long.

After a ridiculously long intermission (for the sole purpose of hawking overpriced merchandise), like most of the children in attendance, KJW was done. We stayed to watch the tigers briefly, but we left very soon after intermission. So the critics were right. She was probably too young. But, she enjoyed it and besides, we wanted to go.

What was her favorite part of the circus? Honestly, I am pretty sure it was crawling up the stairs and around the muck that littered the floors during intermission. We'll call it "exploring" the arena Oh well. We’ll back in two years. (It did seem like four was the optimum age for circus attendance.)

After KJW briefly visited my parents (who love her) I was off to hang out with JTH. We ate at Applebees with Couple X. It was there that we learned why JTH had ordered the wrong meal earlier in the week. If you remember, he had been bragging on a chicken dish and convinced me to get it as well. When the food arrived, it was not what he had expected. Well, we now know it was Applebees’ Fiesta Lime Chicken® that he loves. This explains why we ordered the wrong meal on Monday. We were at Chilis.

While at the Bees, we had the unexpected pleasure of seeing RLN. He told us that while he had only eaten at the restaurant three times in a year, we had been there each time. Maybe we do eat there too much...