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2001-05-29 / 5:55 p.m. ~Zoo Day~
I took today off to go to the zoo with my best friend and her little girl, a 2 1/2 year old. My friend's sister-in-law and mother-in-law and niece went too, the niece being 3 1/2. Just us girls. At the zoo. We got started early, and the little ones had so much energy, running, jumping, having fun. The zoo really has improved, and last year was my first time there in years - we went the same day, day after Memorial Day, and it was a lot less crowded than this year - but I can see getting another membership. I like what they've done with the place. There's some breeding going on, some preservation and procreation of endangered species, and we have a couple Giant Pandas on loan from China. It's not so bad, really. Yeah, the tigers looked thin, and they have no room at all to move around - they're not in cages like they were in the '60s (I remember that well, and it wasn't pretty), but they need something like what's been given to the gorillas. The gorillas are the true stars of our zoo, some 23 or so, lots of babies, lots of room to move, a veritable gorilla wonderland. So we saw a Toucan with a beautiful bill, peacocks, cranes, golden tamarins, baboons, orangutans, gorillas, tigers, lions, zebras, giraffes, rhinos, giant tortoises, turtles, alligators, iguanas, snakes, skinks, otters, flamingos, lemurs, red pandas, Giant Pandas, am I leaving anything out? It's a great way to spend the day, and some of the animals actually seem to enjoy us being there. One gorilla brought her baby down to the glass in the inside viewing area, seeming to say, "Hey, look, here's my little kid, whaddya think?". And we loved the spectacle, the butt picking and playing and mom's back turned to us while we watched it all. The 3 1/2 year old called her plastic binoculars "rhinoceros", and the 2 1/2 year old called the orangutans "monkeys", corrected me over and over as I tried to tell her what they're really called. It was sort of a perfect day, really. I'm exhausted now, really not used to being on my feet so much. My legs were exposed to the air and the sun and the people too, for the first time in a year, unashamed, no hair, just stubble now. Lots of sunblock and I still have no tan, still white bright skinny legs. Cost of the War in Iraq
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