North Carolina Zoo

You want to know what is the OPPOSITE of fun? Looking at other people's zoo photos. We've all been to a zoo before. We've all taken hundreds of photos of the animals who are doing their best to pretend you're not there. We've all patiently waited for the animal to wake up and DO something already. We've all had to explain that your photo doesn't do the monkey flinging poo any justice. You just had to be there, we get it. But here I go, putting my zoo pictures on the blog. Enjoy! They're really awesome! You should have been there - the pictures don't do our afternoon any justice!

Conor didn't have any games to go to last Saturday, and the weather was supposed to be a perfect 75 - 80 degrees, so we packed up and headed to Asheboro, NC to go to the North Carolina Zoo. Apparently we weren't the only people with the bright idea - it was a ZOO there. Yeah, I said it. I'm okay with it.

After parking and waiting forever in line to get in, we saw the elephants first. I missed the best shot of the elephant actually spraying water out of his trunk, so use your imagination.






Next up was the baboons. Conor and I got lucky on this one - we were actually just walking to the restroom, when we noticed the baboons. They were being fed, which basically meant that some lady was hucking fruit and vegetables at them. I think she was enjoying her job a little too much though, she kept hitting them with a flying carrot or head of lettuce!


Uh, hey nice food lady, do you think you could just gingerly toss that food my way?


Is this a turn-on to the other baboons? The larger the red butt, the better offspring you'll have? This guy not only had the biggest patch of red butt, but he was also the biggest baboon, and he had no problem getting food.


Mmm... carrots...


Whatchu lookin' at?


If you look really closely, you can see the baby that's getting a free ride on Mom's back. Lazy baboon.

Next up, we passed a gorilla. I think this gorilla is a lot smarter than people give him credit for. There were so many people there this day, and he was hiding way off in the corner in the shade. I don't blame him. Plus, he didn't have another gorilla friend to pick ticks off his back, so he was probably sad and ticky.



On our way to the aviary to see tropical birds/insects/frogs, we saw a flamingo.



Next we saw some Poison Dart Frogs - they're poisonous, in case you couldn't gather that from their name. I teach about these guys in one of my lessons - natives used to rub their arrows on the poison dart frogs back. The poison on their back has enough venom to kill 10 grown men. Ouch.




We went into the Sahara dessert exhibit where we first tried to take a picture of a roadrunner. I'm not kidding, he's fast. Conor even dropped a "look out for falling anvils" joke. We're in love.

There were also some turtles. One as big as a boulder, one as big as a small boulder.




Inside the desert exhibit, they also had native plants. This made me giggle.

This plant will survive forever if Mormons are meant to drink it - we don't drink tea, you crazy plant!

Then I saw this guy. This guy describes how I felt 3/4 of the way through the zoo. It was hot, we walked a ton, and I felt wide. Thank you fat lizard for the visual.



The grizzly bear was one of those animals that was completely unimpressed with his crowd. He was originally hiding behind a rock, popped his head up for a second, and then retreated around a corner where no one could see him. I think I even heard him growl "Stupid paparazzi."




Same with the polar bear. He wanted nothing to do with us. He even showed his severe dislike of the crowd by only showing us his backside, and taking an enormous leak. You can't really tell in this picture, but it was hilarious. It was about a 2 minute piss. And it all floated in what I am guessing is his swimming/drinking water. JOKES ON YOU MR. POLAR BEAR!



The otters were awesome. They were little synchronized swimmers. Everywhere Otter 1 went, Otter 2 wasn't far behind. They were putting on a show.





There was a wolf...


And a bobcat... (there was once a bobcat loose in Sammamish. What the what?)


A seal too...


An alligator also...


And a pretty tree...


But then there was this...

I'd say that this kid probably just dressed himself this morning, but I don't think that's really the case. Dad is to the left, Mom is to the right, and they were just as equally intriguing to stare at. I think I may have done more people watching at the NC Zoo, but it's a bit more normal to take pictures of the animals. This necklace probably came out of a vending machine for 50 cents. And this kid is damn proud of his bling bling. I even love the way it glistens and sparkles in this photo - just the way it should.

There you have it - our go around of zoo pictures. I hope you enjoyed the baboon butts and polar bear peeing.