mdlbear | An afternoon at the zoo (Reply)

Following chaoswolf's suggestion of a couple of days ago, we went to the zoo this morning. Got there a little before noon, and got home about 3:30.

By the time we got there, the main lot was full to the brim, but the handicapped spots around the corner on Sloat were still available. Long walk, though. I hadn't wanted to drop off Colleen and the girls because I didn't know at the time whether there would be parking at all. Next time, I think, we'll leave after lunch and plan on arriving around 2:00 -- there were plenty of places in the main lot by then, and it'll be cheaper if we don't have to buy lunch.

I grumped about the lack of adequate handicapped parking in Member Services, and they gave me a parking ticket so I could drive around and pick up Colleen on the way home. We rented a wheelchair, having discovered on the trip home from FKO what a difference it makes.

Colleen kept apologizing for the extra work she was putting me through, but I was enjoying myself thoroughly. Not only was I able to stay with her the whole time without any extra effort (it's a real strain to slow myself down to her walking pace, and frustrating for both of us), I got a pretty darned good workout to boot.

The zoo was full of "respect the animals" and "please be quiet" signs, and the large cat and bear enclosures all had new glass fences. For obvious reasons. The new fences replace what used to be a pair of railings with a strip of plants in between; they'll be lower maintenance and let you get right up to the edge of the moat and look down. Cool! There's also a little bench built into the concrete footing; probably intended for kids to stand on, but a tired grown-up can sit there, and I saw several doing just that.

I miss the elephants and the pigmy hippo. *sigh* The baby giraffe was cute, though. And it was the first time in the more than three decades I've been going that I saw a warthog standing up where I could see it clearly. I hadn't realized how shaggy they are. And the two grizzly bears sleepily snuggled up next to the window were cute as heck, too.

We'll probably get the flower_cat a wheelchair -- it'll come in handy. It cost us $10 to rent; that will add up, and of course there are plenty of places where you simply can't rent one. The San Jose Municipal Rose Garden, for example, and the Los Gatos Creek bike trail.