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To the Zoo!
Jan. 22nd, 2008 06:29 pmMason had yet-anoother-day-off-from-school and since he'd been aggitating to go to the Minnesota Zoo for a while, we decided to go. Yes, it's -5 degrees, but a lot of the stuff at our zoo is actually indoors. We got there by 10 am and went straight to the dolphin show. The zoo just got two new female dolphins from California, and the male, who was supposed to be doing the show solo, kept getting distracted by the presence of the "ladies" in the other room. He'd start doing his thing and then he'd catch sight of one of them and sidle up to the window and stare at them like, "Hey, baby, how YOU doin'?" It was quite amusing.
Mason and I did our usual tour of the other cool things like the tropics trail. We always see something new every time, no matter how often we go. This time we actually saw the clouded leopard and some of the poisonous pitcher frogs. They also have a new anteater type thing in the armadillo cage.
The Minnesota trail is actually outside (although they set up some windbreaks to cut down on the biting cold), and Mason and I retreived our jackets and arctic gear from the lockers and went. I'm glad we did. The lynx kits were really playful. We watched them chase each other. My favorite moment was watching one of them waiting to pounce. She shook her butt just like our kitties at home! We also ran into friends of ours (Andrea and her son Cyrus) on our way out as they were going in, and we looped around to watch the lynxes again.
Probably the very best part, however, was going on the monorail. There weren't many people (the monorail is also unheated for the most part), so the conductor/volunteer (Dave -- Mason read his name badge, the budding secret agent that he is,) let us sit at the front by the driver's seat. Mason actually got a look at all the controls, and, as we were in the "back 40" (actually much larger acrage that is as-yet-undeveloped but owned by the zoo) the driver spotted a barred owl. He stopped the trail so everyone could get a look at it. He actually ran us all a little late because we had such fun looking at everything and hearing all his personal stories. It was cool. No, strike that, SUPER cool.
Speaking of Mason, I must go. He wants to play "Mystery, Inc." and I have to find clues he's hidden around the house that reavel his identity.
Mason and I did our usual tour of the other cool things like the tropics trail. We always see something new every time, no matter how often we go. This time we actually saw the clouded leopard and some of the poisonous pitcher frogs. They also have a new anteater type thing in the armadillo cage.
The Minnesota trail is actually outside (although they set up some windbreaks to cut down on the biting cold), and Mason and I retreived our jackets and arctic gear from the lockers and went. I'm glad we did. The lynx kits were really playful. We watched them chase each other. My favorite moment was watching one of them waiting to pounce. She shook her butt just like our kitties at home! We also ran into friends of ours (Andrea and her son Cyrus) on our way out as they were going in, and we looped around to watch the lynxes again.
Probably the very best part, however, was going on the monorail. There weren't many people (the monorail is also unheated for the most part), so the conductor/volunteer (Dave -- Mason read his name badge, the budding secret agent that he is,) let us sit at the front by the driver's seat. Mason actually got a look at all the controls, and, as we were in the "back 40" (actually much larger acrage that is as-yet-undeveloped but owned by the zoo) the driver spotted a barred owl. He stopped the trail so everyone could get a look at it. He actually ran us all a little late because we had such fun looking at everything and hearing all his personal stories. It was cool. No, strike that, SUPER cool.
Speaking of Mason, I must go. He wants to play "Mystery, Inc." and I have to find clues he's hidden around the house that reavel his identity.