Extending trip 30 minutes.
After making sure all children were matched with their ride or parent, about 10 scouts took an extra 30 minutes in the Zoo to run some energy out at Kids Cove which gave me my first opportunity to really check it out. Wonderfully done! Of course, I liked the aviary the best. The kids loved the padded play ground, climbing, tunnels, and sand.
Bears giving good show. Otis chasing Ursula.
Apparently one male bear was inspired by the wedding.
Penguins from africa!
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Elephants gave a good show
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Moving cars to main entrance. Scouts checking out chimps
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Despite knowing it was going to rain i did not pack the boys ponchos
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Noah second scout to rise of course
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Rather calm night. I personally woke every two hours. Looks like it rained during the night but no rain now.
7am was to be our wake up call. Everyone started to stir moments beforehand. Of course, the zoo walkie talkie blaring, "this is your wake-up call" could have influence that.
Sleep comes.
The time on this post doesn’t make sense. Oh! The daylight savings problem on WordPress time stamps still exists. Wow. My time stamps are 2 hours off. That means we settled in not at 10:10pm but at 12:10am.
The night hike was very interesting. We saw white tigers, snow leopards, heard birds, the whelp of a wild Tommy as his foot slipped off the sidewalk and he fell like a muppet but without injury, heard lions roar, and tigers howl. At the end of our hike, we changed clothes and laid out our sleeping bags, then were treated to some biofacts of ivory, rhino horns, snake skins, teeth, etc, most of which are illegal to possess unless you are a zoo. It did not take long for everyone to find sleep.
Snow leopard gave us a great show
No pictures were allowed during our night hike so I cannot show the beauty of the snow leopard. As we approached, she stalked us and our instructors’/guides’ flash lights would catch a glimpse of her peeking out. One of our guides used to feed this particular snow leopard so as she began talking the animal pranced to up to the cage to be as close as possible. She holds her super fluffy tail in her mouth and twirls as if to say, "isn’t it beautiful!"
Wolves howling and lions roaring very cool.
Of course, with the interstate so close, you also hear the roar of traffic.
Nothing is wrong with the video. It should be black. I made it with a Canon PowerShot A95 and didn’t know how to record only sound.
Pictures are being posted to http://flickr.com/photos/mccaughan
Wedding at the gorillas tonight. Scouts having to tiptoe by ultra quietly.
Update: It was actually at the bears and the reception was at the tent in Kids Cove. Thanks to their music, we were able to rock around the clock while learning about condors. I can think of 1000 other places I would want to get married other than the zoo. I’m quite pleased with Guns N Garters in Gatlinburg! Note that the picture (larger view) shows Baskin N Robbins which is a great place for a small, intimate reception.
Bear video and another bear video (both of these are from the following day).
We have arrived at the zoo safely.
Some parents were already at Gate 1. Turns out some Girls Scouts have laid claim to the Audubon Society building from the 1800s so we will be at Tiger Tops (Gate 9). Tiger Tops is one of the original zoo buildings that was a small restuarant which patrons could enter and "eat at the zoo" without ever entering the zoo. Gate 9 requires an escort so we are to pile 20 scouts, 5 adults, and their related gear into the 4 cars that will be staying. Physics doesn’t allow such miracles so all parents are allowed into Gate 9 to drop off then the parents not staying are let back out with a footnote that pickup will be at the main entrance not Gate 1. No one mentions needing a 7am exodus.
After getting out of the car, Noah and Phillip walk within 6 feet of a rabbit without noticing and scare it away. Bad omen?
East bound flows. I 40 west is a parking lot!
