Kodiak Rider Recon

We hit the Toledo Zoo next. Well, we did spend an extra day in Columbus and had lots of fun at the water park that is attached to the zoo. We had our first real experience with the wave pool and really enjoyed it. We weren't sure what to expect in Toledo because it seemed to be a smaller zoo. There were some really good reviews online and it fit perfectly into our trip logistically.When we got off the highway we drove through a lower income area and wasn't sure what to expect. Once at the zoo, though, we were pleasantly surprised by the presentation. Here is the entrance. I'm not sure why but when the kids line up for pictures more times than not it is in height order. It is really funny. The zoo is divided by a road into two sections. This picture is in the first section. It is hard to see here but this yard was very intriguing. A zoo in general separates all of the animals and only occasionally do they mix animals in the same physical area. This yard was a big breath of fresh air. According to the sign there were 13 different species in the yard. There were zebras, giraffes, wildebeests, east African crowned cranes, ostriches..... It was great. It made you feel more like you were in Africa. Kudos to Toledo for this one.The Polar Bear exhibit was a nice one too. There was indoor and outdoor viewing. They weren't swimming at the time but if they were it would have been a fantastic view. An interesting thing about polar bear exhibits is they are all pretty boring from a color perspective. In the wild they are almost always on snow or ice - in fact they are on ice flows over the ocean a good part of the year. So you never see many trees or other "decorations". They just aren't used to seeing colors other than white (BTW - a polar bear's skin color is black. Their hairs are actually clear and hollow. The light from the sun shoots down the "fiber optic" hairs to the black skin to help keep them warm. And the fact that thy are hollow helps trap the warm air. The inches of blubber help too.) Right next to the polar bears are the seals - which in a way is kinda mean. I mean they eat seals and must be able to smell them - they have a great sense of smell. The seals were actively swimming as usual. This time something really funny happened. One seal was gliding along at the top of the water upside down. And another seal was also swimming at the top of the water but right side up. The next thing you know they bumped heads. You never think of something like that happening because they are so graceful. We all got a nice chuckle out of it. We also saw lions there. And these were special lions. Not only were they the rare white lions (which is really just a lighter shade of tan) but they were from the Siegfried & Roy show. The white lion isn't actually a separate sub-species but just a recessive gene. Hope is that some will pop up again in the wild. This rhino was interesting. If you take a close look at the horn you will see it bending forward. I've only seen them bend backwards. Also his horn was really big. This is a sloth bear. And in a zoo most animals kinda take it easy and just lay around. For a sloth bear I would expect even more so. But they were active on this day. Running around and having fun.This is one of Dayne's pictures. Toledo was the only zoo on our tour that had hippos. In fact the address of the zoo was 2 Hippo Way. They even had their own hippoquarium. And they were also on the move. They walked in the water as you can see and also on land. They are monstrous creatures. Death by hippo is the leader in animal deaths in Africa I believe.Dayne was fascinated by the cheetahs so I would be remiss not putting one of his pictures here. There were two in Cheetah Valley. These were the only gorillas we were able to see. The gorilla yard was at the far end of the zoo and by the time we got there the gorilla house was locked (and the zoo was actually closed). All the gorillas were in the house and the yard was empty. So we made our way back to the entrance seeing no more visitors. Thankfully the gift shop was still open. Then when we made our way to the parking lot there were only two cars left - ours and one other with people already in it. We actually closed the zoo haha. This was the last of our zoos on this trip. I have already gotten suggestions from people on other zoos to try (St. Louis and Omaha) and have serious interest in NY and DC. We will see. We were glad to share this with everyone and are thankful for the great comments. It was a lot of fun. Editors note: I forgot my adapter for my camcorder so I wasn't able to post any video from that (all videos have been from my camera - that thing is awesome). So there will hopefully be more supplemental material to come. My special note: The time with the kids was incredible. Being with them 24/7 was fantastic. I love them so much. And I don't think I heard one peep out of them the whole trip complaining about anything. They were ready for the challenge and were very helpful and went along with everything. So thanks kids! I hope we can do something this special every year. I love you!!!

Here we are. Three zoos in three days. Columbus, Ohio. I know I was starting to feel the miles. But this zoo was just voted the number 1 zoo in America (that's right. Ahead of San Diego) by the USA travel guide. If you can't get pumped up for that then what can you? Let me get the bear picture out of the way right now. These guys were just laying around but they at least were nice enough to be close so we could get a good look at them. I have one picture of the front claws of this guy's buddy - yikes. You are not supposed to run when you see a grizzly bear but after seeing those claws I might have something running down my leg. This zoo was really good for getting close to the animals. Twice we got to pet snakes. This is a black rat snake - it is named as such because it is black and it eats rats. Lots of imagination in the scientific crowd. There were also goats, a bunny, a box turtle and a monitor lizard. The last three were right near the exit as we were leaving. What a great parting gift. The box turtle is unique because he has hinges on the underside of his shell so that he can crawl inside and fold up his shell for complete security. This guy put on a nice and close personal show. He walked back and forth right in front of us. Literally we were inches away. We learned there are three subspecies of tiger that are extinct. I wouldn't doubt more are on the way. They even changed the name of the Siberian Tiger to Amur Tiger because there are no longer any of them in Siberia. They are gorgeous. This zoo also has manatees. It was a bigger tank with lots of fish. One of the manatees -Stubby - lost most of her tail when she was hit by a motorboat. Propellers are the biggest obstacle right now. They are in Florida and the not-so-funny joke is that 9 out of 10 manatees have propeller scars on their backs. Great creatures. It was really cool to see a Koala. Not technically a bear but still looks super cuddly. My most cherished stuffed animal is a Koala from when I was a little kid. These guys didn't move while we were watching - they are pretty much doped up from the eucalyptus - but it was cool. We also learned that they don't drink because they get all the water they need from the leaves. One of the big highlights was seeing this guy. A 4 1/2 month old Asian Elephant. He was super cute. He was almost black - I guess Asian Elephants are darker - and looked so small next to his mom. He weighs a robust 600 pounds. He was shorter than Dayne (and maybe Evan). That is really packing it on. We almost missed him. He goes off exhibit at 2pm since he is so young. It would have been a real bummer. Here is my stinky girl. I say that because the flower she is in - the Rafflesia plant - really gets to three feet in diameter and is really stinky. She is so cute though. And this is what that super cute girl loves so much. We are 3 for 3 with flamingos on this trip. She is in heaven. These guys were nice and close. The pink color actually comes from the food they eat. I got that nugget from watching the Tour De France and not from the zoo (thanks Phil). And finally, this is Dayne and Evan - I mean a pair of Langurs. They put on a good show. In the next exhibit over there was a baby. The baby is really cute because he is orange. Easy to spot but not so easy to get a picture of. They were hiding in a dark corner and always moving around.Tomorrow we are having a fun day - as if this whole trip isn't fun. We are staying in Columbus and going to the water park.

Today we went to the Cincinnati Zoo. It was a nice drive over. Only about two hours. Once close to Cincinnati there were rolling hills filled with lush vegitation. To the left is our tickets for the day. The cool thing was that it was a half price day. And anyone that knows me knows that makes me happy. We started off at the elephants. Every zoo has elephants and yet they are still fun to watch. These were asia elephants and were darker than the Brookfield ones.This was at the end of the day. We were hot, tired and in need of liquid. We barely made te gift shop before the zoo closed.This bear was swimming past us. There were two big windows and he was having lots of fun staying cool. It was a bit gross when he pooped in the water - his butt was facing us - yuck! As most people know I love bears. I could have watched them swim around all day. But there were 499 more animals to see... at least. This Scarlet Ibis was so full of color he had to make the highlight reel. There were tons of great birds in the Wings of Wonder house. Then we went to Larikeets and Evan and Audrey got to feed them with nectar cups. One was nipping my finger. It was great.The highlight of the day was the 2 manatees. We have never seen one in person before. They are really big and very cool. It was the best part for all four of us.This is Audrey holding a snake. Evan held it too. It is the second snake on the trip they've gotten to touch. Yesterday Evan got to feed a giraffe. He said the tongue felt hairy and dry. (and yes Kirsten they did wash their hand afterwards.)This is the Sumatran Rhino. It is the rarest rhino in the world. There are less than 300 left in the wild. The Cinci zoo was successful at breeding two rhinos in 2001 and was a huge success story. As you can tell he is hairier than your average rhino. So please save the rhinos.Dayne took this picture. These hogs were resting in the shade. They actually looked really cute all snuggled together.We are having a good time. Tomorrow is Columbus. Recently rated number 1 in the country. We'll be the judge of that. For you David Letterman fans it is the home zoo of Jack Hannah.