I spent part of my Saturday at the Toledo Zoo. I am a fan of the Toledo Zoo, and even used to be a member when my stepkids were smaller. It's a lovely spot, well-maintained, and their education programs are ubiquitous within the park, as well as in local schools (90+ miles away and in another state!) and media.

Talk about service. We arrived just before noon. Sis ordered picnic lunches ahead of time. We went right to get lunch, and the hostess told us to find a table and she'd be right out. She arrived with a big basket, with a peanut butter/no-jelly sandwich, pretzels, and a Capri Sun for Niece, half a dozen cookies, Sis's lunch with a sandwich, chips, pasta salad, fruit cup, and a drink. I had eaten on the way, but the hostess came back at least 3 times to make sure I didn't need anything. The thing is -- this was just at one of those big picnic areas at a zoo, where there aren't hostesses generally around anywhere. The food wasn't any more expensive than regular zoo food, but it was good and came with such service. So. Kudos to the zoo. We wrote a fantastic comment card.

Now pictures. I took about 200 or so -- obviously not including them all. The rest of the trip was pretty much your standard zoo experience, so the pics say most everything:

While waiting to take the "Safari Train" in "Africa," I noticed this funny little sign:

Sis and Niece on the train:

Here are the animals we saw from the train:

There was a carousel in "Africa":

All the wolves were asleep, but there was this statue of a cat in the overhang of the viewing area that I thought was adorable:

Lots of birds in the aviary -- and a really big, cute one hatching:

I love the purple on this bird:

And then there was the aquarium:

And then the reptile house:

My best photo of the day for sheer timing:

The same snake looking much more benign a few moments later:

And on to the African Savanna (which is different from "Africa" mentioned earlier...):

I do not have a picture of the Hippoquarium. This is a frickin' shame. These hippopotamuses (hippopotami?) love to swim and in the Hippoquarium, you can see them above and below the water. They swim right up to the windows. There was one that seemed to smile at me and I was just as excited as the time I swam with a dolphin. No kidding. So I'm scamming a picture that i did not take so you can see it (Thanks to Michael "Nick" Nichols -- link to his site by clicking on picture):

I can't remember the name of this bird, but it's very unusual. The picture was taken because the damn thing reminded me way too much of the velociraptors in "Jurassic Park":

This primate (again, so focused on the camera that I didn't even get the names...duh), had a little friend in his cage, on the stump below him to the left. So I focused in for the 2nd picture:

My favorite little monkey:

And on the way out of the zoo, we saw the rescue area for 2 bald eagles. This photo shows the feathers in such a way that they look painted. Amazing bird.

So that was my trip to the zoo. It was fun. Definitely better pictures than if I'd stayed home. Heh.