Spring Trip 2012 travel blog

North American entrance to the NC Zoo

Pitcher plants eat bugs

Venus fly traps eat bugs, too

Life sized statue

BIG Alligator

Turtles

Mountain lion peeping at all the little kids

Wood duck

Billy Goats Gruff statue under a bridge

Water lily

Lots of water lilies

Harbor Seal Habitat

Two harbor seals

Gliding along upside down

Puffins - hard to see because of water on the glass

Puffin exhibit - rocks are scrubbed once a week

Two otters underwater

Taking a break

Frog

Pile of rattlesnakes

Free-range squirrel

Elk

Buffalo

This is how big a real buffalo is

Man-made geysers and bubbling mud pots (like Yosemite)

John next to a tall blooming desert plant

Prickly pears about to burst into bloom

Desert plants outside the desert exhibit

The desert habitat

Roadrunner

He's getting into his dinner

Tall cactus

Gila monster

Two ocelots in a crevice grooming each other

Barking bullfrog - must weigh two pounds

John and relics from the 1850s Gray Mine

NC Bee Keepers Association exhibit

Bee hive

Papayas in the aviary

Ginger

Another tropical flower

Orchids

Little parrot

Scarlet Ibis

Gorilla family

African Violets

Big baboon daddy with big baboon teeth

Baboon family walking in line

Baby boy born in January

The African habitat...acres of land

Let sleeping rhinos be....

Canada geese like the fake termite hill

An African eagle

Elephant with rhinos under the far trees

Fake tree for the elephants to scratch against

Cooling off in the mist

Zebra and giraffe

Male in the sun, Female in the shade

This led to snarls and slaps

He won - Male in the shade


We made it to the zoo a little after 9 this morning...us and a bazillion school kids on field trips. We counted 22 buses in one of the bus lots. All the kids were energetic, but they were mostly well-behaved.

The zoo is huge, with big habitats. The walk may be long, but it is fairly easy.

We started in North America with alligators and worked our way through Africa, ending with zebras (or close to it).

There are three restaurants, one at the front gate in North America, one in the middle of the park, and the last at the other front gate in Africa. Everyone we entered with decided to eat lunch in the middle. And, that is where all the school kids were to pick up their lunches.

So, the restaurant had only one of their two lines open...the other being used to give out the kids' sack lunches. We stood in line for almost half an hour to get our food, and thankfully the food was good (chicken Caesar wraps, fries, fruit cups). By the time we got our food, the line was three times longer than when we started.

Refreshed, we went on to Africa. We had spent about 4 1/2 hours at the zoo. We took the zoo shuttle from the Africa exit back to the North America entrance...the walk outside the zoo was 40 minutes long. The shuttle was a much better, air-conditioned option.

The zoo is beautiful with lots of shady trails. The habitats are large. The animals all seem to be in great shape. The desert habitat and the aviary of full of plants and animals to see...some of the up close.

We got back to Arvy about 2 o'clock. The pups took us on a walk around the fishing pond. We have now all settled inside the cool and are watching "Lethal Weapon" with Mel Gibson and Danny Glover. We have all four movies on DVD, so we may have a Lethal Weapon afternoon.

Tomorrow we head home.

Thanks to all of you for following along with us on this trip. We are hoping to make a few short trips this year, and we'll write a trip journal each time.

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