Woodland Park Zoo

We spent today at the Seattle zoo. By the end the kids were tired and throwing tantrums about wanting cotton candy, but it was a really fun day. I was completely impressed with the zoo. It was wooded enough that each exhibit felt fairly secluded, they had a lot of fun things to do, it was clean, the animals had a lot of space and didn't look like depressed prisoners, and it was slightly drizzly so there weren't a ton of people there until the late afternoon--which is when we were done and leaving anyway. Here are some of the highlights:

Almost the first thing we hit was a playground. The kids could have stayed there all day. We need to start going the opposite direction so that they find these places last, but I'm glad it was so cute and fun.

Turtles:

Gophers:

 Spiders:

Here were giraffes and gazelles. This area was so pretty to me:

Flamingos:

 Autumn fighting to get down.

 Calvin giving us a science lesson.

Jaguars? Cheetahs? I can't tell the difference:  

 Autumn loved these guys. Maybe because they were close enough to the glass that she could really study them, but she was enchanted.

Toucans:

 This is a bad picture, but I was trying to get a feel for their awesome rain forest house. Every so often it would start to mist in the cages, and the plants and birds, snakes, dart frogs, etc. were amazing. It made me think that rain forests might sound exotic, but they would probably be slightly terrifying.

One thing I didn't get a picture of were the orangutans. They were mating. Against the glass. I felt like I was in some sort of social experiment or something because there were 20+ adults pushed against the glass, crowding each other out as they watched them, making lewd comments and laughing. The kids had all lost interest and wandered off, but their parents were there in some perverse, voyeuristic, peer-induced endeavor to see the whole thing through. 

The female orangutan was just laying there, but every time she would try to get up, the male would punch her in the face until she laid back down and let him finish. Maybe I'm a prude, but I felt bad for the gal and had no desire to watch for more than 10 seconds. The people surrounding the cage were laughing and making comments that would have horrified any victim of rape or domestic abuse. It was a weird moment for me for some reason. I was disappointed in people I didn't even know, in a "wow, this is what we're capable of?" kind of way. I guess my point was that one guy kept saying over and over, "man, this is the best part of the whole day. Now I've got my money's worth."

Well, that's how I felt about this:

They have this walk through aviary with parakeets, cockatiels, and small parrots flying around and landing on people. You can pay $1 for a small stick that has food stuck to it (I think it's honey or something?) and the birds will come right down to your hands and eat off of the sticks. The kids LOVED it! It was so much fun to see them interacting with the animals up close without being too afraid.

Calvin and his parakeet:

 Autumn and her cockatiel:

Andy, the Bird Whisperer:

My favorite picture of the day:

 He didn't feel quite as comfortable with the bigger bird as he did the smaller one.

Cute, happy kids:

The carousel ride:

Autumn ran and jumped on before we had paid, so we were fumbling around and hadn't caught up with her when the ride started. We figured since she'd ridden one recently with her grandma, she'd do fine, but then they turned the thing on and it was on turbo speed. It was the fastest carousel I've ever seen. We prayed the whole time that she would just hold on tight long enough to make it, but she kept letting go to do her beauty pageant wave every time she'd pass by us. Luckily, she's smarter than we give her credit for and she did just fine.

 No idea why Calvin prefers the boring benches to the up and down horses, but he almost always picks the bench.

For the second ride, Andy got on with Autumn and Calvin wanted me to sit with him. Here's our not-so-attractive self-portrait:

 I realize that this is a very unflattering picture, but I feel like on the blog it always looks like Andy does all of the interacting with the kids and I just stand back and take pictures. Well, I play too!

Brown Bears:

 Freaky, but beautiful. Autumn was also fascinated by these guys.

Otters:

 Calvin loved these guys. They were so playful and fun to watch. In this picture, they're right behind him wrestling or dancing. Obviously I missed the otters, but I thought Calvin looked cute.

The golden hippo:

The new pet meerkat: (Autumn chose a little hippo)

 Hippos:

Back at the playground:

 The End!

Portland, Cannon Beach, and the Cottage

This morning we ate the buffet breakfast at the hotel, spent the morning in the pool, and checked out at 11:00 to be on our way. We drove around Portland for about an hour trying to find Andy's favorite place to eat: the exotic, fine food destination of Baja Fresh. Here were a couple of pictures I liked on our way out:

 The reindeer that says Portland. When you drive by it at night, it's all lit up.

 Chinatown. My friend and I were walking there last year, but I had to go back to the hotel, and she went on without me. I'm sad I still haven't gone there yet.

We decided to make a pit-stop in Cannon Beach, about 80 miles west of Portland, on our way to Seattle. The drive was some of the prettiest scenery I've seen. 

Andy with his concentrating face on:

 Wild flowers lined the sides of the highway:

When we made it to Cannon Beach, it was cold and raining, and Calvin had fallen to sleep. We dragged him out of the car anyway, but he was not happy about being groggy and tired and wet. He refused to get off Andy's shoulders because he didn't want his feet to get dirty. He was GRUMPY the whole time and kept asking to go home. Mr. Grouchy:

 

Autumn loved it. She loved the sand between her toes and finding rocks and throwing them into the water. She also thought it was hilarious that if she stood still long enough, her feet would sink and disappear into the sand. She loved the seagulls and the water and the seaweed. She was a gem and we had to drag her kicking and screaming from the beach. Little Miss Sunshine:

Throwing rocks:

It was such a beautiful beach. I would have loved to stay there longer. Maybe someday when it isn't so cold...

 On the drive from Cannon Beach to Seattle, we loved all of the bridges along the way:

 This rusty old thing looked like it was about to collapse on top of us:

Incredibly gorgeous marshlands. Who knew I could indulge my Cathy and Heathcliff fantasies right here in the Pacific Northwest?

Thick, dense forests (Minus the roadkill):

 The bridge crossing from Oregon to Washington:

And finally, we arrived in Seattle. We are happy to be here and to see this:

It's where we will call home for the rest of the month. Hooray for Seattle!