Boo at the Zoo!

For my birthday I asked Jeff to take me to the zoo. September is horribly unpleasant for me as far as work is concerned so I wanted to wait until October. Plus, the weather is cooler in October. This Saturday we made the visit. I was able to get free tickets thanks to some information from Whitney and a DVD from the public library. It's also Boo at the Zoo right now which was awesome. I've never been to the zoo near Halloween. All kids (and adults) are encouraged to dress-up and they give out candy. Several of the habitats were decorated in the Halloween spirit; a pumpkin here, orange and black streamers there. We did not hit any traffic on the way up and the weather could not have been better. We were there for a couple hours and saw everything there was to see. It's been about 4 years since I've been to Zoo Atlanta and much longer for Jeff. The word of the day was 'powerful'. Jeff kept saying, "God, you know that guy (animal) is powerful." Or, "Look how powerful he is!" It was hilarious. I took as many pictures as I could stand and tried not to hog the viewing space. There were a lot of people there but it wasn't overwhelming. All the kids were very well behaved too. First we saw the flamingos but I didn't take a picture. This lovely elephant was my first photo of the day. We only saw one but I've seen as many as three there before.

Then it was on to the warthog but I couldn't get a good picture. The only things Jeff really wanted to see were the warthog and the rhino. The rhino got the first 'powerful' comment of the day.

Near the rhino lived giraffes, zebras, and ostriches. 

The giraffes were cute as can be while they frolicked around their habitat. 

I think we visited the parakeet house next. They were so, so pretty and very cute. I wanted to take some great pictures to frame later but it was difficult with so many visitors. It was hard to take a photo quickly before a hand or head popped in the shot. 

We also saw this pretty blue feathered bird later in the day.

Next was the gorilla exhibit. This was the main attraction for many years with the famous Willie B. I would say the pandas are probably the main draw for attendance these days but the gorillas were very fun to watch. We stayed there for a good while. The largest gorilla also received the famous 'powerful' comment. 

And there was a precious baby gorilla!!

I took so many pictures of that baby. It was just so cute. After about 10 minutes we were hit with this horrible smell. It was truly awful. Jeff said we needed to move on and he looked like he was about to throw-up. I didn't need any convincing so off we went. We saw a sun bear after that and a glimpse of some tigers. I never did get any good pictures of the tigers. 

I don't remember when exactly we saw the lions but it was a treat. The lion and lioness weren't really doing much until the lion got up and started walking around and bearing his teeth. I'm sure there was a 'powerful' comment thrown in there but I was trying to take as many pictures as I could so I don't remember. 

Then the lion sprayed the bush to the right. It was hilarious. 

You should have heard some of the explanations from parents to their kids. Nature calls! On to the pandas! First was the adorable red panda.

Then we saw the main attraction. Well, not the MAIN attraction. The newly named baby pandas were not out for viewing which was a real shame. The last time I went to the zoo was with mom and we got to see a baby panda playing with it's mother. We must have stayed there for 20 minutes with huge smiles on our faces. Oh, well. I was still nice to see my childhood favorite. My favorite stuffed animal when I was a kid was a panda bear from the Riverbanks Zoo in South Carolina. I named it Jeffrey.

The pandas were pretty much the last exciting thing before we made our way back to the car. We swung by his sister's house for an impromptu birthday party for his nephew Austin. Then we grabbed a quick dinner at Zaxby's and headed home. I became extremely dizzy around 10pm and got sicker into the next day; nausea, sneezing, fever, major dizziness. Then around 5pm on Sunday it just stopped. I feel great now. I kind of thought it might have the flu (which I have not had since middle school) but it was just some weird bug. Other than the strange illness we had a really fun trip. I'd like to visit the Riverbanks Zoo next time.