A Trip to the North Carolina Zoo

Saturday's trip to the North Carolina Zoo was so much fun! And a lot of walking.

I had my doubts about all the walking. I went to the doctor a couple weeks back because I've been having persistent pain in my left foot. They took x-rays, but couldn't find any fractures and told me to take an anti-inflammatory for it. Unfortunately, it doesn't really help. But I made it through most of the day without needing something for pain.

I am starting to think my feet just don't like walking on the hard surfaces in the house. If I wear slippers during the day at home, I have a lot less pain. But this isn't supposed to be about my feet. This is about our trip to the zoo!

The North Carolina Zoo is located in Asheboro, about 50 miles from where we live. I had read good things about the zoo, but wasn't sure what to expect. Asheboro's a big town (pop. 24,000) for around here, surrounded by lots of itty bitty towns. I told myself I would have fun no matter what, but I didn't set my expectations too high.

But this is really a great zoo! There were a couple of enclosures that seemed a bit small and dated, but by and large, most of the exhibits were awesome! The walking paths are almost always in the shade, which was wonderful since it was 90° when we went. They had a tram system to move people from one end of the park to the other, and lots of little impromptu activities for kiddos, like face painting and some little game with stuffed animals.

Scoob's favorite exhibit was the aviary, mostly due to huge vents blowing air—they made great fans for cooling down. I enjoyed being in the aviary exhibit with the birds and having to listen and watch carefully to find them. My favorite exhibit was the river otters—so freakin' cute!—and the giraffes.

Anyhow, it was a great day!

We started at the Africa entrance.

I loved that I got this elephant face-on.

Putting a trunk to good use.

A pack of pachyderms.

Feeding giraffes is one of my favorite zoo memories from visiting the Oregon Zoo as a kid.

But, one of the giraffes at the NC Zoo is pregnant, so we didn't get to feed them.

A two-headed giraffe! It's a giraffe hydra!

Another face-on shot of Mr. Stripey himself.

We were just about to give up on getting a good look at the rhinos when this guy came strolling down one of the service roads in his pen.

An eastern bongo lounging in the shade.

Baboons. I'll spare you the butt shots.

These little blue-crowned hanging parrots were singing every where in the aviary exhibit.

I have no idea what this is, but it sure is cute!

Several signs warned that this eclectus parrot likes to bite.

Chilean flamingoes.

Hooded pitta.

A lollypop plant.

These two Victoria crowned pigeons looked like mirror images.

A close up.

Another close up, after it landed in a tree above me.

I have no idea what this little orange guy is, but he looked amazing in the sunlight.

This red-capped cardinal was stalking me for a while.

Spiral flag

Sunbittern

Playing peek-a-boo with a white-faced whistling duck

A wompoo pigeon.

It was getting hot by the time we got to the lemurs.

Every single exhibit that had water had these massive frogs.

Chimps in profile.

This guy was friendly, but the plexiglass was super smudged..

No one ever told him not to play with his food.

Lazy lions. Looks like a pretty typical day for our cats, too.

Go Away. Seriously. What part of lazy didn't you understand?

Hello there, Mr. Alligator.

Zzzzzzzzz. Yes, I'm really sleeping.
Of course it's safe to step a little closer.

Boo!

A nice, peaceful spot along Cattail Trail.

Lots of

different kinds of

dragonflies

And butterflies

Dinner time for the river otters.

Why yes, I do like sushi.

An after dinner swim.

They're just so dang cute!

And you can imagine how bummed I am that this shot is blurry.

Elk

Bison

While everyone else was focused on the bison, I was watching this little guy on the railing.

A burrowing owl in the desert exhibit.

And an ocelot.