Our Vacation, Part 3

By the time Monday rolled around, we had done everything that had been planned.  I really wasn't in the mood to go back to the MoA and have to deal with all of the people, so we decided to go to the Como Park Zoo & Conservatory.  And we couldn't have decided on a better place to spend the day.

The Como Park consists of 300+ acres in the city of St Paul.  We managed to see the zoo, the conservatory, and the Japanese garden.  If I lived there, I would be at this place weekly.  I couldn't imagine a greater place to spend an afternoon than sitting in the sunken garden, surrounded by flowers and fountains, reading a book.  It is really a marvelous place--and the admission price is a 'suggested' $2.00 per adult DONATION, $1.00 per child.  And if you can't afford that amount, you still are not denied entrance.  And what's even cooler still:  The park is open 365 days a year.

Of course, I took an enormous amount of pictures here.  I'm not too sure my family is thrilled about my picture taking--they always seem to be waiting for me to catch up with them.  I think I should go to our destination ahead of everyone else and have them catch up an hour or two later.  This way, I won't keep everyone waiting to get to the next attraction.  ;)  But, I digress.

I will do multiple posts about the park--this was I won't put anyone into picture overload.  The first batch of pics are from the zoo.  Enjoy.

While the zoo isn't very large, by any means, it does house quite a diverse number of animals.  They have large cats and wolves, seals and penguins, primates and birds, polar bears and hoofed animals.  Because of the design of zoos these days--the desire to make them more and more 'natural'--it isn't as easy to take pictures as it used to be.  But here goes:

The primate house:

I'm not sure WHY this female orangutan was sitting like this, but it was very amusing to see her staring at her reflection in the glass--with her blanket over her head.

'Normal' African wildlife:

Some birds:

This ostrich was NOT dead--just sleeping!

Mama giraffe:

And her baby:

The tiger was very pretty--I was amazed at the lack of a belly flap.

And the lady lion was just way too tuckered out to care about anyone else--she just was enjoying her nap.

A typical longhorn sheep:

Bison are so much bigger than you realize:  until you are up close.

This picture amused me to no end.  The seal/sea lion (don't know which it was) was sleeping up against the wall--just as if he/she was put in 'time out' for some transgression.

And I don't REALLY have to go far from home in order to see Mallards, but I LOVE flamingos, so I had to take these.

Next on the list:  The Conservatory.