31. Spend the Day at the Zoo

Lions, tigers, and bears, oh my!

Just kidding, the bears were temporarily removed from the exhibit.

Today we visited the zoo with our good friend, Tina, and our white friend, Derek. (I feel like it sounds a bit racist, but let's be real--he stuck out in a group of Asian females! :P) It was Tina's first time visiting the zoo, so her excitement was contagious.

We started off our adventure by going through the Arizona Trail, which consisted mostly of various birds, reptiles, and predators such as mountain lions and coyotes. Personally, I found it quite boring, but there was one area that was indoors. While there it displayed creepy crawlies, I quite appreciated the air conditioning! (This became a theme over the 3.5 hour visit!)

Immediately after the Arizona Trail was Stingray Bay, where we all were convinced to pay money to touch the stingray. It was actually a cool experience! Some of us were a little hesitant though... ;) But we all enjoyed it in the end, I think!

After grabbing some lunch, we started off on a long, dry, hot trail that, if I remember correctly, went uphill, toward the big horn sheep. A little lower were the lions and tigers, although they were hiding out in the shade, for the most part. I don't blame them; at this point, it was really heating up! Pick the hottest day of the week to go to the zoo, why don't you. Smart. :\

But remember, this is for Tina! And we love Tina! REALLY LOVE TINA. (Or so I kept telling myself.)

At this point, I'm pretty sure we started to wander in no particular direction. Much to our dismay, many of things we wanted to do were closed for the day. We were deprived of camels and monkeys, but we did meander our way into the orangutan exhibit, which was my personal favorite. Why you ask? Well, by now it was early afternoon, and the temperature was almost up to 110 F. Seriously, I was slicked in sweat and felt really gross. This exhibit, however, was well air conditioned, so we spent a considerable amount of time in there. :)

Orangutans are fun, anyway!

After the orangutans, we were pretty much booking it, trying to get to as many of the remaining animals as possible. Derek really wanted to see a komodo dragons, so we stopped by there for a bit. We also flew by the jaguar (Harry!), the zebras, the rhino, and the elephants.

Unfortunately, many of the animals that we saw were hidden away because of the heat, but we did see some neat-o burrito creatures! (Heat exhaustion may be kicking in... :P)

Overall, I'm glad we went, and I'm glad I got to share Tina's first visit at the zoo! I'm also glad we got Philly cheese steaks afterward, and I'm sure Patherica would agree. :)