Hey everyone, it's spooky season which means different places are doing things for the season. My in-laws got some free tickets to the Zoo Boo last Sunday, an event where you can dress up in costume and get treats while also enjoying the animals. Unlike the wild lights or just going there, I haven't done the zoo boo in forever; my mom remembers doing it when I was real little, but we haven't done that since. Since it was Sunday mskate had to do learn to skate beforehand, and then we went right to her parents afterwards. Since there's a Chuck E Cheese close to the ice arena she teaches at I went there for about 40 minutes and used our 40 credits with our pass. The cool thing is on the Minion card drop game there was a rare peanut butter and jelly card that was next to drop, so I played until I got it. Before I left I checked the balance and we had 9,857 tickets, 143 away from 10K. After CEC I went to the ice arena and watched mskate teach. I sat in the stands around where other parents were sitting, and I kept thinking "mine is the really tall one in the light blue jacket."
Now that skating is done we went to the in-laws to get ready. I had some pizza circles for a dinner while I was there; they're kind of like bagel bites, but a much higher quality. I was Mr. Incredible and mskate was Zenon, and IRA was Ben 10 from Alien Force. Normally the in-laws park right outside the zoo for free parking, but the event had free parking so I parked us up at the 3rd floor of the parking structure so I could go down the bridge. I don't know if I've said it somewhere before, but when I was little we liked parking on the 3rd floor of the parking structure because there was a bridge to get to the main side with the zoo, and I would like to run down it. I ran on it a little with mskate, for nostalgia. The check in was pretty simple, just present the tickets.
When we got in we skipped over the penguin house and butterfly house to go to the special event tent, because that's why the in-laws got the tickets. On our way to the tent we got our first treat, rice krispy treats. The event tent was not very exciting, they had some free donuts and cider, but all the speeches and stuff were over when we got there. Oh well. Around where we were there were some pumpkin displays, which were kind of cool. Some had fog machines and were fogging, and there was this one with a face that was talking that was kind of creepy. The first real animals we saw were the river otters, and this is when it was clear tonight was going to be more interesting. The river otters were really active, and they were fighting. That was pretty fun to see, and everyone was crowded around watching them. It was really cool.
After the otters we made our way further into the zoo. We saw some cool Star Wars pumpkins, with the real characters. We also passed by the vulture and camel enclosure, but they were just kind of there. We passed by Rackam Fountain, which is kind of a big photo op, with many pennies of mine in there from back in the day. We also saw some cool marvel pumpkins, and got some candy from the treat spots.
Now for a real experience kind of thing. We're about halfway into the zoo, and that's where the arctic exhibit is, with the polar bear tunnels. There weren't a lot of people there so we were a little concerned it was closed, but it wasn't. The polar bears were not out, but the sea lions were, and they active. When we were in the underwater part we saw the toys they had for enrichment, and they were dog toys. IRA thought that was pretty funny, because they were basically the same toys that his dog had. While we were going to the arctic base station part of the exhibit we saw our first free roaming peacock, because that's what they do at the zoo. I was able to get kind of close, which was kind of the boldest I've been, except for the time there was one that stole my peanut butter sandwich when I was little. In the base station thing they have a thermal camera to show how they track things, and dad-in-law was making a big deal about how his head was the high heat red, and I made the joke about how it was because he's a hot head, which got a good laugh. That was basically all for the arctic exhibit.
After this we went to the farm section. On the way we saw the wolverines, and the wolverine was running around in circles, very active like. Again, this is very rare, most of the times the animals are sleeping or otherwise not very active. We also got some popcorn bags from the treats. The farm kind of changed since I was little. Now there's a play place thing, and they got rid of the barn owl and horses, but they have donkeys, alpacas, and chickens, as well as goats that were kind of off in their own area. The fun thing is the goats were making noises, and I would have tried to record them for my second stock audio library, but there was faint music and the family wouldn't have been able to wait around for me to try to do that. Oh well, still lots of fun.
I don't want to say "it was getting late" because it really wasn't, but some of the family was getting tired, but IRA and I were ready to do some more exploring, so we went ahead of everyone deeper into the zoo while the others rested. I wanted to do the kangaroo experience, because it's really cool. Unlike a more traditional exhibit where the animals are separated from the humans by a big fence, glass walls, or chasms, the kangaroo exhibit is an open walk through exhibit where the kangaroos are walking around with you. I don't know why they're different from all the other animals, maybe they've evolved to not interact with humans but know how to push a human away without seriously injuring the human, but for whatever reason it's a walk through. Unfortunately though, it must have been past the kangaroo's bed time, because they were closed. Oh well. We continued on and there was sloth bear in it's exhibit, and it was just sitting against the wall looking kind of derpy. It was really funny looking, and there were a lot of people looking at him. IRA and I decided to maybe start making our way back to catch up with the family, and as we were walking back this toddler kept staring at me as he was walking, trying to make sense of me while also keeping up with his mom (and kind of falling behind). I let my presence be known by rather loudly saying "yeah I'm something aren't I?" I wanted to let the parents know their baby was getting very distracted by me and was struggling to keep up, and I could tell they appreciated it as they friendly pulled him back to their attention.
As IRA and I were walking back we caught back up with the rest of the family, they were on their way to the sloth bear with us. Unfortunately the sloth bear decided it was time for bed and was lying down like it was asleep. Oh well. Right close was the giraffes and they were really close, which was pretty cool. As we made our way forward we saw the ostrich and rhino. The ostrich wasn't doing much, but the rhino was kind of active. It was walking around, maybe on it's way to the night house. IRA and I both reminisced about the loss of the elephants, because they used to be here but aren't anymore. We also saw the zebra off in the distance, would have gotten closer but the in-laws were a little tired.
Now for something pretty fun, the lions, or as I kept saying "the kitties." Typically the lions aren't very active, just kind of sleeping off in the distance of their enclosure. Well, that wasn't the case this time, they were still mostly asleep, but they were sleeping right against the glass real close to us. Everyone was gathered around, and that was why. The male lion was sleeping on the rock that was close to us, and I think his favorite lionesses were sleeping with him, and the other lionesses were sleeping right against the glass barrier, like if we it wasn't for the bullet proof glass we could pet them. That was really cool. As I was walking away IRA got to see one of the lionesses walking around, drinking water, and jumping onto a platform. He got it on video and showed the family. That was OK by me though, because there was peacock walking around where I was, and I like the free roaming peacocks. It was a great experience.
After the lions it was time for one of my favorite things, the great apes. I like them because their mannerisms are so similar to humans. Last time it was the child chimps playing with each other and the baby chimp trying to keep up, and this time it was building a bed. The chimps weren't doing a whole lot, just kind of walking around, with one climbing all over the ropes, but still fun to watch. The gorillas on the other hand, they were trying to get ready for bed it seemed. One young gorilla was climbing on the ceiling, swinging from the reinforced vent grating, because of course the adventurous nature of gorillas would have one thinking "what if I climbed on a functional part of the habitat." The adult gorillas though, they were gathering up straw to make a bed. There was a mom gorilla holding a baby with one arm while gathering together straw down on the base floor, and another adult gorilla gathering up straw on one of the upper levels. Not the most "human mannerisms," but the way the mom was carrying the baby with what was probably the non-dominant arm while trying to get bed ready with what was probably the dominant arm, while walking bipedal upright, that was pretty human. Then at the exhibit there's a pretty cool thing where they have the hand print and skull of a chimp, gorilla, human, and orangutan (at least I think it's an orangutan), with it to show off how similar we are. It's a really cool thing, and while the in-laws were kind of "I'm tired, I just want to be done," they were like "OK, that was fun, I'm glad you dragged us to the great ape exhibit." Close to the great ape exhibit was the flamingos, so we just kind of looked at them real quick, because the flamingos are kind of funny with the rapid looking around, but they don't really do much.
The great apes were kind of close to the entrance to the artic exhibit, which is close to the center cafe area. I hadn't had dinner, so I decided to get a little something, cheese fries. Seeing that this was a "sit down and rest" kind of activity, the family was open to taking a little break. Mskate and IRA each got a fountain drink, and everyone else just enjoyed having a little break. After our little break we started making our way to the front, and as we were walking we came across a really cool pumpkin display. There was a thing where it was Miyazaki with most being Totoro and the skull things from Princess Mononoke, The Muppets, Project Hail Mary, Toy Story 5, Coraline, and Angry Birds. They were really cool.
My next stop was the event building where they have the 4D theater, because they sometimes have art exhibits on the top floor. Unfortunately they didn't have it this time, but oh well. Outside there was a treat stop where they were giving out Pepsi and juice boxes. Everyone got diet Pepsi's for mskate since they were out of regular. This was also right by the reptile house where there was a fire spinner doing tricks. That was really fun, and right afterwards we went to the reptile house, where they had a warning that said "decorations may be scary for younger guests" on the door. That peaked my curiosity. What did they do? They put Halloween decorations inside the habitats. You had novelty skeletons with the snakes, dragons with the lizards, haunted swamp signs with the alligators, and all sort of stuff like that. That was hilarious. I loved it. The funniest thing was a snake just chilling on the head of a novelty rat. It was great.
There's not too much else after this since it was getting late and was kind of close to the entrance. We went back up the main track to the entrance, passing by a cemetery thing with novelty head stones, things like "here lies Morgan who donated an organ" and "my name was Nate, and my problem was I was late." We stopped at the 2nd to last candy place and got some apples. We tried to do the butterfly house and the penguin house, but unfortunately they were closed for the night. That was a bit of a bummer since both of them are pretty cool. Oh well. As we were leaving we got our final candy from a stop at the exit. We went back to the car after going up the ramp to the bridge, took the family home, and then made our way home. All in all, great time, we'll probably do it again. Well this has been Pokematic, signing off, and bu-bye.
