Special Zoo Tour

I got to do my first zoo tour of the season this past weekend: for a lady from my mother’s church. She just recently moved back into the state and hadn’t been to the zoo in over 10+ years. Things have definitely changed since then!

The big surprise of the day was the weather. I woke up Saturday morning to find several inches of snow on the ground, with more coming down. It’s April, for goodness sake! I so wasn’t ready for snow again.

The tour went well enough, but we were both bundled up against the wind and horizontal snow. It wasn’t the cold so much as the wind that got to us. The animals loved it, however!

We got to watch the polar bears play – always a beautiful sight. Our polar bears are so majestic looking: big, fat, and healthy. They were certainly enjoying the last burst of winter weather.

We even got to watch the wolverine! I hadn’t seen him out and about in a long time. He is very old, and spends most of his time sleeping in his little log cabin. The snow was just to tempting, however – he was out rolling around and having fun.

Our golden eagle is finally out on exhibit. He’s been back in the infirmary for so long, I didn’t know if he’d ever be well enough to handle the stress of being out in the public. He is such a beautiful bird, I hope he does well.

I even caught a glimpse of the snowy owl actually fly around her cage! Her eyesight is poor in the extreme, which is why she is with us (she couldn’t hunt on her own), but the cool weather made her feel good enough to give a twirl around her enclosure!

No tour is complete without stopping in at both the coffee shop and the gift shop. I always include both of those because they do generate more income for taking care of the animals. Plus, the coffee shop is conveniently located in the middle of my tour and provides the perfect warm-up and bathroom break.

All in all, it was a great day – in spite of the snow!