Stepha-Roo and Gwendolyn Too!: NC Zoo

This is a bit overdue, but a few weeks ago we hit the NC Zoo and had a great time. First, we hit the weather lottery, with hardly any humidity! And we kicked off the trip trying something new (well, new to us). You can pay a small fee for the chance to stand on a raised platform to feed giraffes at their level. You aren't supposed to actually pet the giraffes, and I wasn't inclined to, but you so could have! In fact, if you were really quick, you might even be able to shimmy down the neck of one and go for a ride, but who wants to get kicked out of the zoo right after paying admission?

The big kids participated in a little activity answering questions and learning about bones and were rewarded with stamps (and they made sure the little ones got stamps too!)

I was sure Gwen would be really into the zoo this time, but she still mostly just ran around and the animals were still not that fascinating. I think she is still at the age that all animals are equally odd and interesting, so chipmunk, house cat, bird, squirrel are on par with elephants, zebras, lions and giraffes. Maybe next time she will be absorbed by the different creatures the zoo offers. In the meantime though, there were no shortage of animal statues to set her on for photos.

Oh the polar bears this time! Last time, they had only one, and we didn't see it. Blake assured me that they had rarely seen it on any of their visits, and we decided that perhaps an expensive polar bear enclosure was enough to attract zoo guests, and that the expense of an actual polar bear just wasn't worth it. But the zoo recently acquired a second, more active polar bear from Kansas City, and this time we really got to see an awesome polar bear show! The one bear kept diving down and back in the same area, so we got to take lots of photos. Oh, and note the shirt Stephanie picked to wear, which she had set aside for the zoo for days in advance.