Today, I woke up and it was snowing! Snow!!! I never grew up with snow. It is still such a magical thing to me. Little white things fluttering playfully to the ground. Gorgeous!

The temperature was only about 25 degrees today. So what did we do? We went to the zoo!! Yay! I've been wanting to go the zoo for a while, and it was a definite must on this trip. So, even though Joe felt like he was getting a cold, he and his sister and I all went to the zoo. They are so sweet to take me there, despite the many reasons not to go. Namely, the weather. But they cared that I got to see the animals like I'd been wanting to so much, so they took me and we had a fun time together. And admission was free! Hard to beat that!

We were slipping and sliding and got our shoes all wet. Some parts were pretty icy. The zoo had Christmas trees up, all decorated differently. Everything was dusted in white, beautiful pieces of magic, and more of them fell and twirled from the sky, melting as they hit my cheeks. I was dancing around in it a little bit, and felt giddy from the whole experience.

At the entrance of the primate house, I realized I forgot the camera in the car, and Sandy actually went all the way back to get it. She is my hero!

We saw many different kinds of primates, but we missed the baby orangutan, who was only there until 12:00pm. But we did get to see the gorillas, including a baby one, and that was fun. The baby insisted that the adults play with him. Some just ignored him, but one adult would playfully bite him, and swing him and pick him up then set him down again gently. It was fascinating to watch.

All throughout the park, there were only one or two visitors besides us at any given exhibit. Often, we were the only ones there. We went to the Australia exhibit and the West African exhibit, and the Swamp House. We also went to the Kiddie Zoo and talked briefly to one of the girls there. That section of the zoo reminded me so much of my work at the wildlife museum, so we compared notes for a little while. It was great!

The only animals that looked like they were having a truly good time were the African Wild Dogs, who ran around together, playing and chasing one another, just like domestic dogs do. They were so funny, and so beautiful. The colors and patterns in their coats were really extraordinary. I loved watching them!

The zebras, camels, and bison looked like they would have preferred not to be in the snow. And far, far too many animals were in tiny enclosures. I even said to Joe at one point, "I'm not sure whether to feel happy or sad right now..." I was excited to have visited a new zoo, extremely elated to have seen such gorgeous animals, but also very, very sad to see so many animals in spaces far too small for them. Not surprisingly, but still depressing to see, one of the elephants was swaying nervously from side to side. Another one had red, bloodshot eyes. The giraffes and hippos were in very small enclosures. The primates were in pretty good places, and had interesting vines and trees to climb in. But mostly, I couldn't stop thinking how much richer their lives would be if they could all live in the wild. Unfortunately, poachers prevent that from happening for a lot of animals...

Anyway, interesting fact: you know that video they always show on "amazing animal" videos of a boy falling into a gorilla exhibit and a gorilla cradling him until help arrived? That happened at this zoo! Back to our regularly scheduled program...

The most amazing part of the entire snow-and-ice desolate zoo experience was when we entered the Australia House. We went through a lot of separate rooms, and one said, "Bats flying freely. Don't worry: they won't fly into your hair." So we go in, and there are fruit bats all over the ceiling! It was so awesome! Joe was hesitant about being around free flying bats, no matter what kind of bats they were. But I forged ahead, and he and Sandy followed close behind. Then, I stopped dead in my tracks, because there ahead of us, on the walkway, a little face peered from behind one of the wooden beams, which hold up the railing. Suddenly, I realized that one of the animals was about to walk right in front of our path! I was thrilled!! The first thing I wanted to do was wait and see what he'd do. Sandy thought it was a puppet, and Joe was saying nervously, "Let's get outta here!!" and trying to get us to go back through the door we just came through.

I think Joe had the most appropriate and sensible reaction in that weird of a situation. Sandy didn't even process what was actually happening until just after the fact. I knew exactly what was going on, and wanted to stay and watch. That's what got me scratched by a squirrel one day, a few years ago! "I wonder how close he'll come?" I'd thought. Pretty close, it turns out!

Anyway, before we really could react, the little animal hopped back from the outside of our walkway, over the little moat thing that was there to separate the exhibit from the human visitors, back to his little living area. He had just hopped right over it onto the ledge there! I wonder how many times he's done that. I glanced at the wall to the right and it said, "tree kangaroo," so since he was the ONLY animal in the room besides us and the bats, I could only assume that's what he was. After he jumped back to his designated living space, we rushed past where he'd stood to the exit doors and got out as quickly as possible. We were laughing so hard, and we all just kept re-enacting that moment by saying, "Let's get the hell outta here!" Sandy also kept saying, "I just kept waiting to see the arm! I thought it was a puppet! I had no idea it was real!!"

After that harrowing experience, we headed for the exit, threw a few more snowballs at each other (like we'd been doing all afternoon!), and stopped at the gift shop. We got some Combos, candy, and animal masks. I got the giraffe mask, Joe got the orangutan one (which matched his scarf and hat so perfectly!), and Sandy got the koala mask.

One woman in the gift shop had her son with her and we made eye contact at one point. She shook her head and said, "What a horrible experience!" I assume because of the snow? I just smiled and walked away without going into a diatribe about how much fun I was having!

I told Sandy that story, and she said, "She must have promised her kid she'd take him. But I'm sorry, if I'd promised my kid, and it turned out like this, I'd just have to say, 'You know, sorry, but we'll have to do this another day.'"

"Sandy! You promised ME you'd take me and you did, in this kind of weather! What are you talking about??" I pointed out.

"Oh yeah," she said, and we all laughed about it.

We drove back towards home, but stopped for Gyros first. They were, of course, extraordinarily delicious. Nice warm food after a fun day at the zoo, in the snow, with people I love.

What could get better than that?

~Meg