We opened the Science Oasis. Oh, and I had some, an animal area. And I would, I’d put Saudi animals in there, had the vipers. There’s some beautiful animals. Beautiful lizards there, blue (indistinct). Anyway, oh, and a big deal was in the summer, or in the, yeah, in the… Read More
One was for one year, two year, and then 20 years. All 20 jars with eggs in. They’re on a shelf still in Riyadh. But they’re aging, they’re aging. Lived in a, what they called the Tuwaiq Palace, which was a hotel, combination hotel and conference center. And guest place… Read More
I took my wife there the first time. Within two days, the water is just teeming with shrimp. Looks like a king crab, like a horseshoe crab. They’re little, and those are desert shrimp. And I had a perpetual exhibit of those. We would get the eggs and hatch them… Read More
Jerry (mumbles). No, no, anyway. He was short little guy, kind of a smart ass. Anyway, they hired him. I was hoping I could go over there and hire him, but I had to do this other. So I mean, anytime I… The beauty of living in, and working in… Read More
So it’s a great way to travel and visit other countries. So I thoroughly enjoyed it. The science museum was interactive. You’ve been to the Exploratorium, so you know how it is. We hired the exhibits to be made. I did come to the States to do that. There’s a… Read More
And that’s about a three hour, two to three hour flight. And you’re in Africa. And you can stay there as many days as you want, and then fly on the States. If you want to go to the Frankfurt Zoo, you can stop at Frankfurt. If you want to… Read More
And told them, I gave him a list of people to hire. And one of them, I’ve even forgotten his name. He used to be at… Anheuser-Busch, was that at Tampa? Yeah. Read More
So they own everything and they run the, it’s all run as a business. I went over and, you know, studied the building, and I kind of sketched up a science museum. And, you know, “Well, how much will it cost?” Will I learned my lesson on that one, and… Read More
What was his name? He was a bird man, do you remember?… Read More
He went in 1983, he circled the planet in the shuttle. He was an astronaut. So he was pretty Westernized. And he came to the zoo. I met him at the embassy, then I invited him to come to the zoo. He came over there. Read More
He said, “Well, Lawrence, what I want to talk to you about is a science museum.” He said, “I went to one in San Francisco called the Exploratorium,” you ever been there?… Read More
And he said, “That was fascinating. And I think it would go over well here in Saudi Arabia, but I don’t know that. And I would like to build. We’ve got a big building out in the diplomatic quarter that isn’t being used, a lot of empty buildings.” They always… Read More
But one of the people that I met at the American Embassy, there’s, you know, it’s the capital of the country. And we have an embassy, huge embassy, huge, with big battlements to keep anybody from driving in. I met a prince there, Prince Abdulaziz Al Saud. He was the… Read More
Sure. After the zoo, the zoo was an experiment in many ways. They had had a zoo, but it had been closed for a long time. And they thought it would work well. And my bosses really thought we could have at least a few family days. We finally lost… Read More
So you were able to go to the United States?… Read More
Would you explain the Science Oasis Museum, why it started?… Read More
Oh, I went to the United States, took half the animals that we were, you know, they were surplus, you know how it is. They wanted to get rid of them. We pretty well hired a Saudi freighter to carry all this stuff. And I got my, hired my son… Read More
Well, first the parents are there to claim the kid’s body. And you know, they were pointing to me, “He’s an American. Well, he didn’t try to save our son, because our son is a Palestinian,” you know, and all that kind of crap. And they did bring, take the… Read More
Ran back to the car and there was my briefcase. Opened it up, there’s the $100,000. There is really a minimal amount of crime in that country. And one of them is, you know, if you do certain things, they’ll behead you. And every Friday at the main center, city… Read More
He was talking about baseball, of course. But anyway, it was a great experience. Read More