Well, we're one day into our vacation, and already nothing is going according to plan. But that's okay, we're on vacation!
We got up this morning at some ghastly early hour (Scott: 7AM isn't that bad!) so that Scott and Kairi could drag (Scott: take, there was no "dragging" involved. Well, maybe with Nick) us all to Eagles Training Camp again. However, upon driving to the field, we discovered a few thousand fans already in possession of the viewing areas. Turns out getting there by 8 AM is just not early enough. (Okay, so it was 8:13. That's still pretty early for a vacation morning, in my opinion. Unless, you know, Mickey is waiting for me.) (Scott: Oh, I see! Disney is more important than the Eagles!)
So, we decided to NOT go to training camp today and shifted to the Philadelphia Zoo instead. So, off we went to Philly (Scott: Without a map, but that's OK because we were just there two weeks earlier).
Isn't that a lovely view? Wondering how we got such a lovely view in a basically flat area of Pennsylvania? Look up...
That's Kairi and me up there... floating 400 feet over the Delaware (Scott: While I worry my head off) in a beautiful hot air balloon. (Okay, so it's a helium balloon - but it LOOKS like a hot air balloon!) Freakin' amazing, isn't it? Oh, but don't look down....
I warned you! That's Scott and Nicky, WAY down there. Can't see them? Oh, they're the dots on the reddish walkway headed back toward the circle. That cable tethering the balloon looks kinda smallish in this picture, don't you think?? (Scott: YES!) Here's a shot I took later of the balloon itself.
Nicky and Scott couldn't be coaxed (Scott: suckered) up on the balloon for love or money, but Nicky was thrilled to finally get to ride the swan boats. He's too short for them at Dorney, and he's always wanted to ride on them.
Lest you think we spent the whole day on rides, however, don't worry. The zoo completely lived up to it's billing that you can "get within inches of the wild". Actually, I think this lorikeet might be even closer that that (Scott: I, meanwhile, was safely outside the fenced in bird house).
Odd. I've never taken a picture of my hand before. But then, I generally don't have multicolored birds on my arm, either. Speaking of unusual, this Amur Leopard usually paces back and forth in front of the glass in Carnivore Kingdom. But it was brutally hot today, so I don't blame him for wanting to lounge around. Besides, since he was staying in one place, I actually got a decent picture of him this trip.
In the exhibit next door, we also got up close to this crocodile. Kind of a creepy stare he's giving us, though.
But nothing tops this Tamarind (and his family). We were walking out of the primate house (after being highly entertained by some very lively spider monkeys) when I spotted this guy in a tree. Yup. That's his cage. Behind him. I said "Hold on, he's out of his cage!" when a docent invited us down a little path. Swinging back and forth above us were four of these guys. Turns out, they're territorial, and once they mark their territory, they tend to stay in it. So the zoo lets them out between 10 and 4 each day (Scott: Fortunately, my keeper lets me out longer than that! Jenn: What is THAT supposed to mean?). It doesn't hurt, however, that they all have radio collars, which another docent demonstrated for us.
Even the animals in their cages were meandering up close, though. Especially when we first got there at opening, a lot of the animals were active and eating. Even though we were just at the zoo in July, it was a great adventure to start off our vacation!
0 comments:
Post a Comment