Fun at the Zoo

Yesterday was one of the most fun days I have ever had. Our friends, Nick and Chelsea, helped us set up Chris with Chelsea's friend/co-worker Abbie and we went on a triple date to the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake City. We got there just before 10 AM and it was a bit on the chilly side but we stood and watched these kids perform a sing and dance routine before heading to the gift shop. We looked around, warmed up a bit, and David bought a walking stick that was pained with tiger stripes and had a tiger head carved on the top. It was pretty cool. Outside they had a bunch of hats so we tried a bunch on.

Nick and Chelsea

Chris and Abbie

After that we went on, we saw some turkies running wild and then saw some monkies and then we saw the "Ghost of the Bayou", which is a rare white alligator. Here is a picture of him. He was pretty content just chillin' out. We walked around the zoo for the next few hours, just taking pictures of all the animals. I was bummed a little because there was construction going on in the middle of the zoo and the one exhibit that was inaccessible was the Kangaroo exhibit, which is one that I really wanted to see. We did see camels, elephants, and lots of monkies, however. The giraffes were cool, too, which is where the skin for our new header came from. I just zoomed in as far as I could and shot this of the mama giraffe's body. After that we saw the tiger and leopard and some other cats. After that we headed around the saw the Zebras and bears. Then we saw the penguins! They were so cute! Most of them were hanging out in the shade but there was this one that was perfectly happy just swimming around all by himself. He was pretty carefree and fun to watch. He looked like a duck when we swam on his belly! We also went through the reptile and small animal house. The best part of that were the maras. For those of you who don't know, Maras are rodents that resemble large rabbits. Anyway, there were two of them in this pen area with two birds that looked like parrots, but I'm not sure. Anyway, the birds were sitting together up against the wall and the two maras would try to get close and the birds would run at them and chase them away! It was so funny, we watched them for a good ten minutes or so. Anyway, we then went and took our group picture in front of the big elephant. We asked this lady to take our picture and right as she was about to take it her cell phone rang so she took four pictures of us while talking on her cell phone. What a trooper! After that we headed to the other side of the zoo where there is a playground area for kids. We took a bunch of pictures just playing around on the animal themed playground equipment. This area was surrounded by train tracks because there is a train ride that the zoo runs for a buck a ride. Anyway, there were these sheeps and goats and one of the sheep went and stepped onto the tracks and just stood there for several minutes. I snapped a picture and we kidded around about the "suicidal sheep." After that we went on the train ride, which is short but fun. It would be way cool if it went around the zoo and showed more of the animals but it was OK for what it was. After the train ride we went back to the gift shop to get the things we saw earlier but didn't buy because we didn't want to carry them around. I got a meerkat stuffed animal and a picture frame. This is the mara.

By then we were pretty hungry so Nick suggested we go to this place called the Mayan (it's called Mayan Adventure actually). It is in South Salt Lake and it took a bit of time to get there but was well worth the wait. Talk about atmosphere! This place completely transports you to ancient Mayan culture. It had elements that reminded me of the Mexican Exhibit at EPCOT Center at Walt Disney World. There was a cliff that was two or three stories tall with a pool at the bottom and the seating was on four or five different tiers. We were seated on the top level. Every 20-30 minutes these cliff divers come out and do dives into the pool. On top of all that the price was awesome! David and I ate for about $32.00. It was good food too. I also got a smoothie but it was way overpriced. It tasted good but I didn't think it was big enough to be worth the $5.25 we paid for it. Anyway, we had an awesome meal. Then we left and Nick, Chelsea, Chris, and Abbie went and dropped Abbie off at her house because she needed to get to work. Then they went to Chelsea's to check on her dog and then headed back and met us at our apartment. We were going to go to a 7:30 movie but we all fell asleep and woke up around 7:30. Oops! We ended up going to a 9:05 movie instead, just the 5 of us. We saw "21". It was a decent movie. I was entertained the whole time but it was a little unbelievable. It was something I think my dad would like, though. It had elements from the Ocean's movies. The only down side was that I was really nauseated the entire movie. When it was over we went and got some chocolate milk. For some reason that helps.

Next month we're going to do another date, probably a photo scavenger hunt. Sweet!