Our Zoo Adventure - Day 1, Part 2

The second part of our afternoon tour was just as exciting as the first, of course. 

Next stop on our tour was the Garden of the Senses.  This was really quite an amazing garden!  Our guide told us that the Garden of the Senses was built upon the concept of having an area where "limited" people could interact and get a feel for the zoo.  There are sculptures, very life-like, of various animals.  There are different textured plants, braille signs, and raised flower beds available for touch learning.  There are many different chirping birds, and fountains to engage your sense of hearing.  Tons of flowers and herbs scattered throughout for the sense of smell.  And of course there are many, many beautiful birds, flowers, fountains, and pretty much anything you can imagine for the sense of sight.  It is an absolutely amazing garden!

I did find it interesting that there was a sign, written in braille, in the center of this fountain.  I didn't ask what it said, although I am sure it is very important!

And look who else we saw!!  Scooter (well a close relative anyways)  brought back all kinds of memories from growing up with exotic pets.

We wandered on and next we saw the Sea Lions.  There was 1 male and quite a few females, and a couple babies.  When we saw them that night, they were relaxing from being on display all day.  Here is a mama and baby cuddling...precious!

We did get to see them again on Saturday and stuck around to watch the "show".  Which really wasn't a show, they were feeding them, and the male had other things on his mind.  Apparently it is mating season.  He was not shy about showing off all his tricks in front of the girls and he was certainly not shy about getting between them and their food.  I guess he figured that was a good way to get attention :)

Continuing on our Journey, we passed Lemur Island. 

Lemur Island is part of the "Expedition Madagascar" exhibit and was really cute.  We didn't get to go inside the Madagascar until the next day, but we were able to see the Fossa and Ring Tailed Lemurs.  They also have a Lemur Walk Thru exhibit where you can actually be in with them, which would have been extremely awesome; however, the Lemurs were under Veterinary Care while we were there, so no such luck, maybe next time.  

Next on the tour was Durhams Bear Canyon.  Awesome!  We saw the Sun Bears, Polar Bears, and Black Bears.  We also learned that Black Bears and not always black, huh.  I do have a photo of the brown "black" bears, but for some reason it won't upload right, so nevermind, just take my word for it.

I was also treated to a "high-five" of sorts from one of the Andean Bears.  She came up to the glass, cupped her hand, and kind of wiped it at my face.  I'm not sure if she was slapping me or welcoming me, I prefer the nicer version :)

We passed a few more exhibits and got to see a few more things before heading back to the Scott Aquarium for the night.  We got to have some treats and watch a movie, Happy Feet, which I had never seen so was really excited about.  The girls on the other hand, just wanted to go hang out with the penguins and watch the real life version. 

In the penguin exhibit, they

have the antarctic penguins, so they have Gentu, Maccaroni, King and Rockhopper penguins.  And they are all cute as can be.  Funny how watching them in real life, really was more entertaining than a movie.  When we were picking our sleeping spots, the guide did make sure to tell us that the Penguins have a 2am Gossip Hour and we may not want to sleep in the arctic tundra with them.  This Gossip Hour apparently lasts quite long, as they were screeching and crying when I was up at 4:30, silly birds.

The aquarium was also pretty amazing.  Something that we definately need to spend more time at next time we go.  I think we just stayed out of that building on Saturday because we figured we had already seen it all.  We didn't.  And what we saw was after dark and a lot of the lights had already been turned out.  We definately could have seen more!

So, Addie and I hunkered down together in the back corner, near the JellyFish (since all the spots in the shark tunnel were taken) she in her Dad's camping bag, and I in my Dad's. Sleeping on a concrete floor is something that I guess I didn't anticipate when we talked about taking this trip.  While not my favorite thing to do, I think that if I had NOT had Poison Ivy, it would have been better.  Addie passed out relatively quickly, like maybe 1 am or so.  Me, not so much.  I forgot to pack pj's.  So I was left to sleep in my clothes.  Jeans and a tank top.  Well....Jeans + Poison Ivy = Not Fun.  I kind of ducked behind the exhibit and did take off my pants, the cold air was a bit refreshing on my fire-lishus legs.  But I still couldn't fall asleep.  I went to Gossip Hour about 4 and hung out with the penguins while I was waiting for the Benadryl to kick in.  It did kick in, about 5, just before the wake up call at 6....