The Great Pikmin Hunt!!! (b ᵔ▽ᵔ)b

11/17/24

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GUYS!!!! 
I went to the zoo yesterday, and guess what.. there was Pikmin.. \(^ヮ^)/

Coincidentally, we decided to go during a Pikmin event at the zoo.. I didn't even realize it until my friend Bella texted me the night before!! AND I WAS LIKE.. WHAATTT?!?!? (`△´＃) i am SERIOUSLY in the right place at the right time for once in my life?! Usually in my life, there's events like this, but they're too far, or I got the date wrong, or I don't have transport.. but today it's different!?
 

SO YEAH.. (๑´ڡ`๑) There was QR codes at the entrance, and when you scanned it you could get a map of where the Pikmin are on your phone.. ALSO, you could play Pikmin... app... (i forgot the name) (BLOOM, IT'S BLOOM). There was exclusive seeds with special decor if you went to see them!! So of course, I was right on my way..

All the Pikmin were in one special area of the park, the Wildlife Explorers base camp, I think..? It said yellow Pikmin was at the entrance, so I was looking up and down.. Pikmin are actually 1 inch tall, so I kind of panicked.. how the hell am I supposed to find that? The trees are filled with golden flowers, and there's vibrant decor everywhere... It didn't seem like anyone was looking around, either!? SO.. I just kept walking... It's just the entrance, so I'll definitely see it on my way out, right...? (*´﹃｀*) In any case, the gold seed was at the entrance, so I got it on my game..
 

OH, speaking of Pikmin Bloom... THERE WERE SO MANY FLOWERS!? I've never seen so many in my whole life, neither did my friends! It was beautiful.. I attached a picture below!: 
 

lollololol

 
 

Being housebound, I don't play Pikmin Bloom a lot.. but I kinda want to, just to get my steps in. We'll see.. I don't love walking around as far as I can, because uphill in the suburbs is a depressing place to walk, and there's not really any interesting stores.. I bet I could hang out at the park more!

So, yeah, anyways.. I was working my butt off trying to find these damn pikmin.. (҂ `з´ ) The map landmarks were really big, and so it was hard to search such a broad area.. And for a moment, I was like.. are there even any pikmin here..? It's making for a pretty lame event.. (￢_￢;) Not much to see in the real world except for the occasional poster promoting it with QR codes.. I mean, honestly, what a stupid event, everything's online, is the event to get everyone's eyes glued to their screens and not at this beautiful San Diegan zoo!?!?

(ーー;) No matter.. I'm getting closer to another landmark.. (」＞＜)」 Even if there's no Pikmin, I still want those golden seeds. because I get so sick of these lousy Pikmin with parking stickers as hats.. (The Pikmin will wear items depending on where you found them, but, you see, this isn't really interesting if you never leave your house, no?)

Both the map and Pikmin are leading me toward an obstacle I don't really know if I can get around..  (・_・;) That's the kid's play area. The one with... water... so much water... Spraying out of the ground and in huge, circular columns.. lines of fountains that spurt out huge jets of water that seem to 'bounce' along the ground.. eeek. And there's kids running everywhere, sopping and carefree! Σ(￣。￣ﾉ) I care very little about whether or not people might judge me, but, like.... i felt I must've looked so awkward, looking rapidly between my phone and the kids running past, with a huge camera around my neck and a gay little bag clutched close to my side..

I didn't really get too wet.. but now, after clearing the water level.. I was in a new area? There were high rock walls, benches, infographics to read.. not much else though.. My eyes follow the cracks in the rock and travel all the way up, and..

WAIT??

WHAT?!?!?

THEY ARE JUST GAY LITTLE BUDDIES HANGING OUT!?!? 
YOU'RE KIDDING ME!!!!!!!

So there ARE Pikmin to be found!!! (((o(*°▽°*)o))) It's incredible!!! I took a picture of them using my big camera, because.. of course I did! And then scurried off to find more..

I was maneuvering past running kids feeling oh-so-very awkward about myself.. Tiptoing on the spongy padded ground, trying to keep my distance... ( ；｀ヘ´) Yeah, it wasn't very fun. But then.. I saw it..? This.. Nintendo logo in the distance!??
I crept closer, and there was a booth for the Pikmin event!! They had a kiosk and baggies!! However. this was at the bottom of some kind of climbing wall. A super steep incline with fake rocks and hand-holds.. and in my panicked fervor, I couldn't find a way around.. there were kids everywhere.. but down!! And so I enabled my inner Mountain goat and ran-skidded-hopped down the hill. I probably looked either super stupid or SUPER cool.. It doesn't matter, because I love steep terrain, and I've never fallen off of it, not on the rocks on the shore of La Jolla, or on those big rocks on the cliff that overlooks my neighborhood.. （；￣︶￣） (stairs, that's a different story. I fall down almost every time.)

I ran over and when I logged in with that kiosk, it gave me, like, a bajillion points!! What fun ...
I talked to the people running the stall and they gave me a little goody bag for participating!!! I was told I could come back and get an exclusive badge if I took pictures of all the Pikmin in the park.. and man, did I need that badge. So with that, I took off!!!!

So, there ARE Pikmin for every spot. (⊙_⊙) That's interesting... I went back the way I came and went to this one little alley with a stage they use for animal ambassador shows, and lo and behold.. some pik pikumin...! White and purple! I said that purple is definitely wearing that web as a fashion statement.. see how they show it off?

 

I took that picture and then went to sit down.. and there was a family and their little toddler nearby. I didn't really mind since I was just looking through my camera, but then the little girl ran up and was excitedly like “THE COATI WENT TO SLEEP!!!!” and then after THAT was when she went 'hi!'.. She wouldn't stop 'bugging' me (as the parents said), so then I was like 'Hey, look up on that brick wall!! You see those little guys?' and she got on her tiptoes to look.. I hunched down and showed her the picture on my camera.. and told her they were playing together! She was just stood there watching them with such amazement until I left lolol.. I love you Pikmin..

(`△´＃) OK BUT DAMN, I STILL NEED THAT YELLOW PIKMIN! I was loitering around the entrance like crazy, searching up and down, maybe looking a little nuts.. but she was nowhere to be seen. It's kind of exhausting.. (°ㅂ°╬) But then, when I by chance refreshed my Twitter, I saw someone take a picture of the yellow Pikmin!!! AND I RECOGNIZED THE BUILDING BEHIND IT!!!!! It was Jake's Cool Critters or whatever!!! SO I WAS OFF ONCE MORE!!!
The problem is, Jake's building is pretty huge.. and there's lots of hills and different levels in the base camp. So it was super hard to tell where you're supposed to go to get in.. and besides, it wasn't that I had to get in.. I had to somehow find the location near, but not right in front of the building.. GOD!!

After some frantic pacing, I was startled by this little yellow delinquent carrying away a fruit.. (￣ε￣＠) She was up on a tree branch high up in the air!! I think I was on a bridge when I found this one. Wow..

 

I hate to be lazy but I don't really remember what the story was behind me finding this one. Just that this family was taking photos of a cool animal nearby, and that I kind of squeezed past and away from them to take pictures with my big ole professional lookin' camera of.. plants? And then a middle-aged man came up to me and was also taking pictures.. We probably looked crazy.. squatting and bracing ourselves like we were capturing a majestic wild creature..

 

So then.. (｡・//ε//・｡) I took pictures of all the Pikmin, right!? I had to have!! I ran toward that hill that goes down to the kiosk, but then realized that there was a staircase, like, 5 feet away from it. How convenient. I went downhill, not looking like a total clown this time, and went over to the stand.. ☆(＃××) The attendants were talking to some other folks, so I was waiting -- but there weren't so many badges left!!! I was hurriedly looking through my camera.. but..

The amount of pictures was.. off, to my surprise. (⊙_⊙)

We're supposed to take FIVE pictures, not pictures of FIVE PIKMIN.. and I only had 4.. o_o!! I was freaking out!!! But then... someone was asking where they could possibly find the Pikmin.. and the guy at the stall was like.. look behind you. And so we kind of all did, and looked up.. and these guys were there!!!

 

He said they were 'playing'. It looks like some kind of a Lion King situation.. I don't know. That's scary.

(((o(*°▽°*)o))) BUT ANYWAYS!! WOW!!! THAT'S THE LAST PICTURE!!!! So I ran up to show those guys!! They were like 'AWESOME!! NICE JOB!!!! You already got a bag.. so you get.. this exclusive badge...!!!'

YEAAAAH I DID ITTT ψ( ` ∇ ´ )ψ TIME-SENSITIVE PIKMIN MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!!!!!!! I could finally relax.. I spent a good portion of my zoo day just running around the same area.. so I did one last sweep of it (to get those exclusive app Pikmin seeds for my friends.. lol), and then I was off and on my way.. it was so fun! (ღ˘⌣˘ღ)

Yeah, so.. I had a lot of fun!! I even saw my good friends, Soona the Baird's tapir and Kamari the serval! Kamari actually turned 10 a couple of weeks ago.. So he's a middle-aged man now! He definitely acts like it some times, lolol. ♡ (⇀ 3 ↼) Yeah uhh anyways.. that's all.. I hope you enjoyed this thrilling epic of me running in circles all day, I wholeheartedly did even if it came with setbacks and silly mistakes! I was so happy Pikmin collaborated with my most favorite place on Earth.. (°◡°♡) Isn't that awesome!?? I hope Nintendo will continue to do events for things like aquariums and zoos in the states like they've been doing lately. Sometimes, capitalism can work to your advantage..

Thanks for reading!!!!!!!! My camera was low on battery.. so I didn't take nearly as many photos as I would've liked to. -3- “ that's my bad.. I will add them to my zoo-page soon!!!

If you have an accredited zoo or wildlife reserve in your area, especially if they do conservation work, make sure you give them a visit!!! It's fun as heck, and helps the world around you.. (°◡°♡) I love animals so much, I hope you can too! I can't even believe for a moment that life is bad sometimes, because I share a world with things like penguins and beavers and weevils and servals.. waow..

I'm only still typing cause im about to reach 2k words.. please do not mind..

Byebye now! LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LA LALAAAA LA LALAAAAA LALALAAAAA LALALA LA LA LA ALAA LALALAAAAA LAAAAA LAAAAAA LALALALALALA LALALALA LALALALA LALALALA LALALALALA LALALAALLA LALALALA LALALAL LALALA LALALA LALLALAA LALALAL LALALLALAAL LALALALA LALAL Ididityay!!!!!!!!!
 

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