Trip to the Zoo

Chris and I decided to boycott, or rather ignore Valentines Day. Neither of us like the idea of being forced into something that wasn't our idea in the first place, and that's just what this over-commercialized holiday feels like. There is also the sleezy, misogynistic overtones that displease us both (buy her something pretty and expensive and she'll sleep with you).

Anyway, enough about the unpleasant! On to the pleasant business of our trip.

I've never been to the zoo in winter. Chris had suggested it a couple weeks ago and the 14th was the first day the weather permitted. We left early, took the subway to a bus, got a little lost, but managed to get there all the same. We were actually one of a handful of late 20s early 30s couples that had chosen the Zoo that day.

Now I have to make a confession: I'm terrible about taking pictures; I almost never do.

I did manage to take a few pictures though. I wish I had gotten some pictures of the wild Mongolian Horses though, they were having a ball running around in the snow and freaking out the Canadian Geese that had taken up residense in their space. ha. That was just priceless.

One of our mutal favourites was the African fish. There is a lake, I can't remember the name, that has more than 700 species of fish in it! They were so colourful and beautiful.



I was also thrilled to see the meerkats. I just love them. I think they are so damn adorable.



They seemed really fascinated by the snow, and were totally ignoring me to stare out their windows at the white stuff.



Another cool group of mammals were the Asiatic Wild Dogs. They were very pretty, and looked like large foxes, we both thought so.



They were also staring us down like we were dinner! I mean hard staring here people. (click through to flicker to see what I mean) They were also standing on this rock on the edge of their space looking out at us. Chris said they were guaging the distance, to see if they could jump and get out to eat us. They really looked intent on it actually. The eating us bit anyway. Very strange feeling. I tried to get a picture of that, but as soon as the camera came out they weren't so intersted.

I've saved the coolest bit for last: we got to see the Boa eating his dinner!!! It was so so cool! I've never seen a snake eat before. It was so cool.



Chris said I earned girlfriend points for not getting all girlie and freaking about the snake eating. He was very proud of me. I'm sure I lost some points with the African cockroaches and millipedes. I just... I do not like bugs. But at least I did't scream or squeal. Just a little squeak, and I turned my head resolutely. The tarantuals were cool though. For some reason they don't freak me out. Perhaps because they are so big and furry? I'm really not sure.