A Trip to the Zoo

Seeing Rusty's escape in the news this week reminded me that I haven't been to the National Zoo in almost a year! Before Mike and I moved to Virginia, I would visit all the time. The zoo was incredibly close to Mike's place, and conveniently located between Mike's office and house. Often I would drop in for lunch, then spend a few hours in the zoo on the way home. So yesterday I set out to visit again! Unfortunately, the red pandas were nowhere to be seen (Rusty is being kept inside until they secure the habit, and the female was hiding). I ended up exploring some corners of the zoo that I hadn't seen before, and didn't get sunburnt. Success!

Sloth Bear and her 6 month old cub. We weren't allowed up to the glass, since the cub has only been outside for a week or so. Sorry about the stupid frosted glass design...

New elephant (I think his name was Bozie?).

Obligatory panda shot. This reminds me of the way my sister's cat sleeps...

The beavers were really active, and it was fun to watch them drag branches around!

I love that the National Zoo is free! I'll definitely have to go back again soon so I can creep on the red pandas... Also, remind me to NEVER chaperone a field trip to the zoo. There were about 5000 camps there, and none of the chaperones were having fun keeping the kids together and engaged!