Como Zoo

Last week, friends from South Dakota came our way for a few days of vacation. They were disappointed to find just as much snow and cold here as they have there (we're not exactly Key West here), but we made the best of it by going to the zoo!

I know. Zoo? Minnesota? February? Well, you do what you gotta do out here in the wild. If we let snow and cold keep us from going places, well, the winter would seem even longer than it already does! So, bundle up, kids, we're going to the zoo!

The first place we went into was a tropical rain forest and my camera got so fogged up that I could only get these cool bokeh shots with it. These are gorgeous blue orchids.

This is a mean-looking, hairy ape.

Oh, are you looking at me? Sorry, Mr. Ape. I'm sure you're beautiful on the inside.

The primate house was a big favorite with all of the kids. This guy (girl? It's hard to tell from here.) sat right up by the glass in an attempt to intimidate us.

It worked.

None of the grown-ups would go very close but the pre-school set walked right up there!

The orangutan next door seemed a little more friendly and Z submitted to being checked for vermin so the orangutan could have a snack. That's Minnesota nice!

Just kidding! There's glass there. Fooled ya', though, didn't I?

"Hello, pretty lady. Come here often?"

This was the only moment when Z and Sam were both still for the same fraction of a second and I caught it on film. I'm good.

I think the parents were more interested in the animals than the kids were. The kids were mostly interested in running down the long corridors of the animal houses. But this wore them out so it all worked out in the end.

Minnesota zoos are specially equipped to handle winter-time visits and we had quite an enjoyable visit!