I went to the greatest show on earth today. No, really. I attended the Ringling Brothers/Barnum & Baily circus with my wife and two daughters, aged 8 and 10. It was intense and spectacular. We all loved it.
If you like danger, you’ll get your fill. If you like animal acts, you’ll be amazed. If you are ADDH, you ‘ll be in heaven. There was so much going on for two hours, I’m still not sure how to accurately inventory all the things that I observed.
I tried to get some photos from our $20 seats, about 18 rows up. A few of them turned out. For example, take a look at this guy, the tiger trainer (click on this for a larger image):
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This trainer commands order in this cage three shows per day. What a gig! Everyone in our family was painfully aware that he was in terrible danger every second. If even one of his 12 tigers got angry at him, his life-expectancy would be only 10 seconds. We were also quite aware that the fence separating those mighty tigers from us was made of rather thin chain link. For the finale of the tiger show, the trainer convinced two of the tigers to hop across the floor, balancing only on their hind legs. It was jaw-dropping stuff.
There were lots of animal acts, including dogs, horses and zebras (yes, zebras) that were simply unbelievable. It was like having a zany dream or being in a cartoon. The show even included 9 elephants. I probably don’t need to mention that seeing these sorts of sights is not an ordinary part of my day. These sights and sounds were truly out of the ordinary.
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The individual acts were jaw dropping, but the intensity of the circus (held inside a hockey arena). There were several parts of the show that involved more than 100 employees on the floor at once. It was poured at you, as though you were wildly surfing through a television channel-changer. There were clowns, jugglers, stilt-walkers, trapeze artists, world-class gymnasts, more clowns, live musicians, an announcers with a bellowing voice and even a man and woman shot 200 feet through a huge cannon.
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But I couldn’t help wondering how they made payroll, given all those human and non-human animals. Now could I quit thinking about the incredible job done by the roustabouts, or the technicians. If the circus comes to your town, and if you don’t mind exuding like a little kid (like me), it’s well worth $20.
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