A Trip to the Zoo

Okay, as I mentioned a few days ago, the Hubs and I went to the Hogle Zoo on Saturday. It was my company's summer party, so we had free admission to the zoo, free dinner and free train and carousel rides (yes, there is a carousel at the zoo- I don't get it either). Since we were at home lounging in the basement watching the BYU football game, we didn't actually leave until about 3:30. But it ended up being plenty of time to see everything we wanted to (our zoo is not very big, but there are a lot of hills to climb- up and down!).

I guess I'll just post a few of the funny pictures, since most of them are just generic animal pictures, and some of them turned out blurry (dang animals moving too fast!) or with a glare from the glass.

Here is a giant tortoise- it's hard to tell how big it really is from the picture, but seriously, it's about 6 feet long and 3 feet tall.

I'm not sure what this kangaroo is doing. He was just sprawled out on the ground when we walked up, but then he sat up and kept scratching himself. Then he got up to find a better spot.

This is not a rabbit. It's some kind of rodent- some sort of cavy, I think. It's not the clearest picture, but to give some scale, it's about the size of a cocker spaniel.

I would post the picture of the sloth, but it didn't turn out very well. But it was funny to see it. Instead, check out the size of that snake! Yowza- it's a giant reticulated python (and that backdrop is painted, not a real waterfall- hehe).

This is a special exhibit animal on loan from somewhere (sorry, I don't remember). It's a white alligator- it's not albino (it's eyes are not pink), it just doesn't have any skin pigment. There are only 10 that exist in the world (and one is in SLC).

Here is the Hubs with one of his favorite animals (besides armadillos)- the charging rhino (well, this rhino obviously isn't charging, but when we play this game called Apples to Apples, his favorite card is the one that says Charging Rhinos.

Here is the Hubs with a peccary- another one of his favorite animals.

Here I am with the zebras (and my seemingly ever-present visor- I swear there are times when I don't wear a hat or visor!)

Here is a mommy and baby giraffe. Awwww.

This is a snow leopard. They revamped the area where they keep "the cats" and it's a much more natural environment than it used to be (and so much better).

And here are the elephants. The "elephant encounter" was also recently revamped to be a much more natural environment for the animals (they share a space with the rhinos). It's nicer to see the animals like this, rather than behind glass, or in some lame cement floor room with fake plants and trees.

I also took a picture of some much more common animals such as a rooster, some huge "wild" turkeys, and a bighorn sheep. When we were riding the train, I tried to get a picture of the buffalo, but we were going too fast, so it turned out blurry. It was a fun outing, and it's always good comedy to see how people from work dress away from work (especially in the summertime) and to see their families (yikes!). It's almost as good as going to the fair.