Quick Trip - Part 3

Here is part 3 of our weekend getaway ...

We woke up Sunday morning praying for nice weather for our trip to the zoo. I had been a little concerned since the forecast I had heard on Friday called for rain on Sunday, but the day was beautiful with a nice breeze (the beginning of hurricane Ike in our area). We decided to skip out on the water park for the day and after breakfast at the hotel, we headed out to the zoo. It was Chloe's first time to the zoo and it had been several years since either Joe or I had been, so we were all excited about going!Here are a couple flamingos. They were so beautiful and graceful and we all enjoyed watching them.
The zoo had lots of statues like this all around that you could climb on and take pictures. Here is a goofy picture of me sitting on a giant lizard ... how funny is that since I tend to make a beeline in the opposite direction anytime I see any sort of lizard in real life ...

In the reptile house, you could pet a snake. On the day we were there, the snake was some kind of corn snake. Joe and I both felt the live snake, but Chloe was not too keen on the idea. She did touch the snake skin that had already been shed by the snake though and was quite proud of herself for that!
We loved watching the silly penguins. They waddled around and swam in the water and Chloe was fascinated with them!
Chloe and I next to a statue of a gorilla head. Those animals are huge! The zoo had several gorillas, one of which was in his 40s. He was a giant silver back and loved playing to the crowd. The zoo keeper at the gorilla house told us that he had fostered several orphaned gorillas, which is not common at all for male gorillas. It was pretty cool to hear her tell stories about the different gorillas.
One of the gorillas in the outside area of the gorilla house.
Joe and Chloe pose next to a large gorilla statue.

This one is a koala. He hardly moved the entire time we were watching. According to the information at the exhibit, koalas sleep up to 20 hours a day, so it should be no surprise that he hardly moved while we were there!
You could get pretty close to the kangaroos in the exhibit. There were double doors leading in and out of the exhibit and you had to take care that the outer door was closed before you went inside and the inner door closed before you went outside in case any of the kangaroos decided to make an exit! Chloe wanted to walk right up to the kangaroos and we had to explain to her that she needed to stay behind the rope several times.
We saw this sign in the kangaroo exhibit ... and I am scared about how busy it will be with Chloe and BB!!!
The tigers have always been one of my favorite animals at the zoo. They were just lounging on the day we were there since it was pretty warm.
This lion was absolutely enormous!!! He too, was just enjoying relaxing that day!

We had a great time at the zoo and I am sure we will be going back again soon!!!