Zoo Trip

I just went out into the living room to look for Keith's camera which has zoo pictures on it but he must have taken it with him to work today. The pictures weren't all that exciting except for the one of the lady orangutan looking at us, so I'll continue without pictures today.

But as I'm walking into the kitchen I see something on the floor that shouldn't be there. Someone apparently got the sh*t scared out of them this morning because there it was laying on the living room carpet. Sigh...not only do I have to scoop it out of the cat box numerous times a day but now I'm going to have to go on a hunt around the house for it? Anyone want some cats?

Anyway, zoo trip. We had been there in January when it was freezing cold and we were the only people in the zoo and now here we were making our return trip on a Monday when it was supposed to get up to 97 in Fresno. We weren't sure what to expect, thinking it wouldn't be all that busy because aren't most schools still in session in mid May and aren't most people at work on a Monday afternoon?

We took the back roads this time, going up 43 which kind of parallels the 99 but is more scenic, if you like looking at dairy farms. There are a whole lot of cows in central California. Lots and lots of cows. Lots and lots and lots of cows.

We get to the zoo and are kind of surprised at how many people are in the huge park by the zoo, aren't these people supposed to be at work today? Then we get to the actual zoo and see dozens of school buses full of schoolchildren who are apparently on field trips or class picnics or something and I'm thinking the zoo will be very crowded, but fortunately the hoards of schoolchildren appeared to be getting back on those buses and leaving the park so I guess it's a good thing we got a late start getting on the road today.

Into the zoo where it is very shady and was actually very comfortable despite the rising temperatures. The exotic bird aviary had misters going to help keep the birds cool and the viewing platform for the elephants also had misters going, so we managed to keep fairly comfortable and had a very enjoyable afternoon. There may have been more people at the zoo that day but it is large enough to where everyone was spread out and we never encountered any big crowds.

We watched the elephants for quite a while this time, they had been given hay and cherry tomatoes, and it's really something to watch an elephant pick up a cherry tomato and put it in its mouth.

So, good day and good road trip except for the part where Keith stopped to take pictures of some abandoned buildings on the side of the 43 and got hundreds of very sharp sticky thorn things in the bottom of his shoes. He spent about an hour taking thorns out of his shoes after we got home.