A Trip to the Zoo

Yesterday Alson and I went to the National Zoo.

I am not a big zoo fan*, but Alson really wanted to go, so I sucked it up and joined him. Although we were hit with two brief thunderstorms, it was overall an enjoyable day. I was happy because we got some pretty pictures of ourselves with zoo backdrops.



The zoo has some neat exhibits and all your standard "zoo animals". We were there from like 11 until 2:30, which isn't really the best time because most animals were napping and therefore looked like this.

This was disappointing, especially since one of the major draws of this zoo are the pandas. Alson said the pandas sleep up to 17 hours a day. Boo!

Luckily, the elephants were out and about. I loved this elephant because he was so cute playing with this ball.
Alson was really excited to see the komodo dragon. It was huuuuuge and nasty. Reptiles scare me.

Also of note: Visiting the zoo is a sneaky way to get a good workout. It is on a hill, which you walk down to see all the exhibits, and back up to exit. We did not realize, however, that you had to walk back up to get out because we didn't buy the map. So, we exited at the bottom of the zoo where people who drove could exit, ended up taking a hike through Rock Creek Park, realized we didn't know where we were going, and eventually found ourselves at another exit of the zoo. And we were of course still at the bottom. We then walked back up the hill to the place where we initially entered, making our walking total probably somewhere in the 5 mile range. Needless to say, my calves are quite sore today.

*When I was maybe 7 or 8 my family went to the National Zoo during a trip to visit relatives in the DC area. When we arrived at the zoo there were protesters out front of the entrance. Now, as an adult I understand that some people have problems with captivity and the premise of animal cruelty, but as a child, I was seriously scarred by the way were acting. At the time, I felt really guilty for going to the zoo and have been lukewarm about going to them ever since.