Journey vs. Destination

At the zoo? Yes! Chicago was awesome in lots of ways but this is was the best. And if you are going to skip this post, go down to the bottom and watch the video. I promise, totally worth it.

Anyway, we stayed across the street from Lincoln Park in Chicago, a huge lakeside park, filled with ponds, wildlife, a conservatory, a farm, a large number of dogs and a zoo. We walked around last night, saw lots of things in the ponds and the sun falling on the skyline. The zoo was closed, of course, so was the conservatory and somehow we circumnavigated the farm without ever seeing it (well, C mentioned seeing a red barn but I figured that was a restaurant). We walked through the Lily Pad garden, visiting a family of ducks, worried they’d close the wrought iron gates on us since we were a little after the posted closing time (they didn’t).

So I got up for my morning walkies this morning. It was bright, really bright. But my sunglasses were far and the elevators a bit slow. At 6:30am, it wasn’t that bad. And I was groggy since I haven’t adjusted to the new time zone (Central). Sun was going to be a good thing.

I walked around the nature boardwalk. I casually snuck up on a dog owner with a beagle and gave it a quick cuddle (happy it was a friendly one instead of some aloof ones I could name, it was totally a good one).  But the nature walk went on and one, paralleling and crossing over a stream. I got to a point there I wasn’t sure which was I should go so I went through some wrought iron gates, they were open and maybe led to a new garden.

Not so much. Instead it led to animals! I kept thinking someone would kick me out but joggers kept jogging by, unconcerned. So I stopped my furtive picture taking and started to really enjoy the zoo. The free zoo. The free zoo nearly devoid of people and full of animals enjoying the early morning sunshine.

Ok, so I saw some white lipped deer, a giant goat (takin), some trumpter swans, and some camels. Also, a ton of ducks, geese, squirrels, sparrows, and robins.

And then there were kangaroos. Bouncing kangaroos. Oh my goodness, they look ridiculous. And somehow I recorded them upsidedown? Ok, I’ll leave it here, turn your head or something…

One jogger stopped, kind of suddenly, and said, “I lived in Australia for six months and I never saw a kangaroo hop.”

That made me feel a little better when the ‘roos were eating and rolling on their backs, showing their fuzzy tummies, when I got C (but I spent more than an hour before I met up with him).

There were plenty of exhibits that weren’t open or had animals that weren’t visit. The zebras were a bit of a disappointment because I could see one’s back end in the doorway at the back of the enclosure. It surprised me when I continued to walk, and there were a bunch more. The funny thing was when C came and we re-covered the ground, nearly the same thing happened to him.

As he was admiring the stripey-ness, I looked around and saw something dark, in a display I hadn’t even noticed in my earlier tour. OMG, a great apt! I actually clapped my hands and giggled in excitement. It took awhile to get a good picture but I loved watching him move around, surveying his territory.

He was so close. Though there was a thick window between us. Chris showed me an article about giving ipads to apes to help them communicate and how incredibly effective it was, especially for the younger, tech savvy animals. I was flabbergasted until I got to the line about the zookeeper “letting the orangutans use iPads last summer, based on the suggestion of someone who had used the devices with dolphins”. Whaaaaat?!? That is so very cool. But how to the dolphins keep the ipad dry? And what is in their Netflix queue? The questions are endless.

Ok, back before C got there, I had seen the lion. He was so cool. I mean, really, really cool. Alpha predators are just energizing, you know? When C got there, he was mostly asleep. But one thing we both noticed, the lion moves and acts like a cat. I mean, like our house cats. The tail flick, the glare of derision, the plotting to kill you right after this nap, it was all there. I could see how people forget they are dangerous animals who could eat you as a snack.

C also missed the wolves. They were in the kids area. Which was empty, except for me and the wolves. They were behind a fence so the pics aren’t very good. Like the lion, though, they reminded me very strongly of the the pets. One of them scritched behind its ear with precisely the same canine enjoyment that Bear (the 8lb malti-poo). And the sign’s puppy made me think of Zoe when she howled along with me as I sang Happy Birthday to C one year.

Some of the animals seem to have escaped their cages. I don’t think this belonged right outside one of the bear exhibits. Whascally Whabbit!

C didn’t get to see the wolves but I almost didn’t walk  by the rhinos again. But I would have been wrong. The rhinos had just gotten fed!

Ok, I’m almost done, I won’t show you all the other pictures of duckie families, the OCD leopard, the seals, the puma that made C say he never wanted to hike the Santa Cruz mountains ever again. C found all the other big cats, I had missed so much on the first pass. I could go every morning for a week. We almost spent our extra-Yellowstone-day and stayed in Chicago. I mean, I didn’t even tell you about the food (fantastic), the architecture (I knew it would be great but we didn’t actually get to look at it much), or the hotel (book Hotel Lincoln now before everyone else figures out it is the best).

However, I promised one final, better than everything else video. This it the lion roaring (and it is right side up!). Watch it. Well, let it cue up and then watch it.

Yes, the background sound you hear is an exercise class being held in front of the lion cage. I’d roar too, if I was the lion. Think how motivating that would be.