Yesterday we all went to the zoo with Grandma.  We had gone about a month ago with Ada and did about half of the zoo. Yesterday we walked the other direction and did the other half. For me, the highlights were the bald eagle at the end of the bird show, who flew over when we just happened to be walking by, and the orangatans. They have a huge one who looks exactly like every picture of Bigfoot I have ever seen. 

I don't know why it is not obvious to everyone that orangatans live in the Pacific Northwest and are just very good at concealing themselves.

I am not sure why the orangatans really affected me.  I guess because they have faces and eyes like ours and they walked right up to the glass and made eye contact. 

They looked kind of sad. 

They seemed to like to shred paper. They had a huge place to live with an indoor and outdoor area, and the indoor area was littered with paper, including shredded National Geographic magazines and a Nilla Wafers box.

Oh yeah, one more highlight. When we were hanging around "Africa", letting Libby toddle around, we were near an interactive display of African drums.  Kind of loud and headache-inducing, but Libby and I were toddling in that area when a real African family walked by.  Very black skin, short hair, safari-type clothes.  Mom, dad, and 2 little boys.  The mom was quiet and walked tall.  She looked like a model, kind of.  I wondered if they thought the zoo "Africa" was stupid.  Of course they did.  Even I thought it was stupid.  So I was kind of embarrassed.  Then the dad saw the drums, and he ran over and started playing them.  Not a headache-banging, but a real beat.  His wife joined him, with less gusto, but she knew what she was doing.  The boys played along.  Now Libby and I just stopped right in front of them and stared.  We were the only ones watching; the zoo was kind of empty and most people were under the impression that "Africa" was closed that day and so weren't walking through anyway.  So we were staring, right across from the dad, and I hoped he knew we were staring out of respect and not because we thought they were some kind of African exhibit.  They only stopped playing when one of the babies ran away and they had to chase him.  "That was fun!" the dad yelled with an accent, and I applauded, and he flashed a smile at me and said Thanks.

More zoo pictures:

DH and giraffes

DH, Libby, and lions

One pig waking up another

Zebra

Giraffes

Playing in Africa