Denver Zoo - Friday Oct 16th

There was no school on Friday here...it was a teacher workday or something. Kylie decided she wanted to use the birthday money she got from Aunt Susan and Uncle Steve to take a trip to the zoo. There's a lot of Kylie in the following pictures, but I figured you wanted to see her, and not the animals, right?

These pictures are in order of our walk around the zoo. The King of the Jungle is near the front gate.

Here's Kylie with her Sprite, next to...some sort of bird. I forget what.

A peacock that refused to open his tail.

Kylie in the Feline Exhibit. One thing that's cool about the Denver zoo is that they have indoor and outdoor viewing areas for almost all the animals. So you can see them whether they're inside or outside.

The giraffes were all outside yesterday. It was really nice outside.

Kylie on the sea lion statue in front of The Northern Shore. This area has sea lions, harbor seals, polar bears and artic foxes.

The sea lions are really fast. This is the best picture I could get. They also have an underwater viewing area that is really cool.

Polar bears!

This was a sign demonstrating how polar bears can be 9-10 feet tall standing on their hind legs. Kylie is just a little shorter than that!

Ducks!

Lots and lots of ducks. And geese.

It may be hard to tell, but in the background there is a buffalo. Bison. Whatever they are, they are HUGE.

Zebras!

The penguins are housed right outside of an indoor viewing area called Bird World. It's hot and humid in Bird World. I like the outside better.

Inside Bird World...a toucan, right? I think?

Some pretty macaws.

I'm not sure what kind of bird this is, but you have to admit, it made a nice picture. There was no glass enclosure in front of him, so I leaned right down there in his face. He didn't seem to mind.

Experimenting with a close-up shot inside Bird World.

This sign showed how far different animals can jump. Kylie always got four feet, which is the distance a flea can jump. How appropos, since she's about the size of a flea.

This is inside an outdoor enclosure that I can't remember the name of. But they had these really pretty, colorful birds. For a dollar, you can buy a little paper cup of nectar and feed them.

I didn't have a dollar on me. But someone was really nice and as they were leaving, they left their nectar cup which wasn't empty.

So Kylie got to feed some birds. She wanted the bird to get on her hand, but she wasn't quite sure how to do it.

I tried to show her how to close your middle finger and thumb around the cup, then stick your forefinger out, and put it just out of the bird's reach, so he didn't have a choice but to climb on my hand to get the nectar. When I tried to get the bird to go on her hand, she got scared though. Picture by Kylie.

"You talkin' to me?"

In the primate village, there are a couple of bongo drums that Kylie loved to play.

And play...

And play.

That is some serious concentration right there. She's like the Michael Jordan of bongo players.

What day at the zoo would be complete without being able to climb on some sort of rock formation?

More experiments with close up shots.

This one is my favorite.

This is on the little train ride. This has got to be the lamest train ride ever. It goes like 2 mph and just does a little circle. The one at Desert Breeze Park is miles better. So is the one here at Belleview Park.

We took a picture in front of the engine anyway.

Last but not least, we had to play on the covered wagon that was back around near the entrance.

And sit on the head of the...ox? Yak? I have no idea.

It's awfully bright out here.

Ending the day by laying on the ox/yak statue's back.

Actually, we ended the day by going into the gift shop and Kylie whining about buying this or that, and me saying no fifty seven times. But we won't go into that. It was a fun day!