For years I kept journals -- in composition, spiral bound, and French graph paper books. This blog is an attempt to get back to writing and documenting the world around me using photos, newspaper headlines, and other articles.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Bronx Zoo

Today's outing was the Bronx Zoo.  We were up and at 'em so early this morning, that we got there before the parking lot opened.  We waited for ten minutes or so before the Fordham Road Gate opened and we were able to park in a primo parking spot.



The plan for the day was to see the tigers and bears (oh my) on the way to the Monorail.  Since the Monorail gets crowded, we thought that we would try to get there early on to avoid the long lines. 

First up was Tiger Mountain.  The tigers weren't close up, but we did see them.  We were impressed by their size.  Good to know that I am smaller than a stretched out tiger, just in case I ever thought that I could take one on or out run it.  And Selim is 4 feet tall! Woot!





As we continued on, we came to a sleeping polar bear.  I was thinking that he must love the winter.  The painted white concrete can't be as cold as real ice.



The Himalayan Highlands exhibit contained the snow leopards and red panda.  The snow leopards were so pretty. 



The red panda was cute, but hiding.




Then we came to the Asia Plaza and the Monorail. 





The line was short and we we were able to get on the next train.  I found it hard to take pictures from a moving train, but I did get some decent shots of deer



a rhinoceros



and elephants.



It was also nice to sit down for a few minutes.  When we got off, lunch was the next order of business.  Selim ate his tofu sandwich so fast, I teased him by asking if he fed it to an animal.  We polished off the watermelon, french fries and drank almost all our water.  Fortified, we stopped at a gift shop where the cousins bought battery powered water spray fans.  Self-cooling mechanisms in hand, we walked on past the camel rides to the African Plains where zebras were hanging out.





Next up, giraffe building.  Since they weren't inside, we skipped it and kept going towards the gorilla exhibit, the Congo Forest.  The Mandrills and small monkeys were first.







In between the monkey and gorilla spaces were inside exhibits of frogs, snakes and other insects.   I didn't linger or photo document.  The gorillas are in a big space.  Looking at their faces and postures, it is easy to see one aspect of evolution in play.






By this point, the adults were flagging and we decided that the three hours we had spent made for a great day.  So we started back towards the car.  Luckily, we passed by a better giraffe viewing.




It took me a few minutes to realize that the lumps to the left of the giraffes were ostriches.



I really wanted to see the flamingos and we passed them on the way as well.





And of course, there was one more gift shop to enter.  Since it is hard to leave empty handed, we bought a new friend.



Since the boys were wearing their London 2012 t-shirts, we needed to capture.



As I was reviewing all 156 photos, I discovered that I managed to capture many animal bumpsters.  It was not intentional, but there you have it (them).








An aspect of the zoo that I really liked were all the animal architectural details.  Hello, we were at a zoo, but I had fun observing the ways that they were scattered throughout the grounds.  From the opening gates,





to the signs




 and signpost finials.




There were statues, parts of fountains, and roof details.









It was a great way to spend three hours.  By the time we got home, all the boys in the car were asleep.



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