Friday, January 6, 2012

Friday Photo

Many bloggers do a Wordless Wednesday, so I'm going to try a Friday Photo(s). I'm not sure how often I'll do this but let's give it a whirl!

One of my favorite places to go is the zoo. Any zoo will do. While on one hand it is sad to see animals cooped up in cages, the little kid in me squees with delight at getting the chance to see animals that otherwise I’d only ever see in a book or on TV. The girls and I go to the zoo often enough to justify getting a zoo membership every year. 

Some of my favorite memories are of the Catskill Game Farm in upstate New York. The Game Farm closed its doors in 2006 (you can find a couple articles here and here and here if you are interested). At least once a year, my dad would bring me to the Game Farm. My favorite part was the petting zoo area. In one section herds of deer roamed around anxiously waiting for an unsuspecting child to start handing out deer crackers. The Deer would swarm like piranhas. In the nursery, goats and sheep and little pot belly pigs crowded around to get small bottles of milk.

The Game Farm was unique in how close you could get to the animals. Now to get close to the exhibits you either have to pay for a “behind the scenes” tour or invest in a really good camera. I certainly don’t have the money for a personal tour, nor do I have a really good camera, but occasionally I capture some really good pictures at the zoo.


"Awesome! One more flash from that stupid camera and I am coming right through that glass!"

My favorite "people" exhibit! The zookeeper was very nice to play along when Ashleigh got excited about seeing a "real people on display!"

"You know I'm about to peck your eyeball out, right?"

Practicing his GQ poses.


We love this bird. He is so photogenic. Ashleigh named him Dexter.

By far one of the best pictures I have taken at the zoo, this little guy looks stunning in black and white!

One of the very few times I have ever seen the lion move. He strutted all over the enclosure like he was all that! Well, I guess he was from the size of the crowd that "oohed" and "ahhed" over him.


The zoo has a lovely lorikeet exhibit where you can feed them. Some days they flock all over you. Others, like this day, they are very stand-offish.

I felt a bit uncomfortable snapping this photo as it appeared to me that they needed a private moment...

"Feed me." Such a demanding man! This one wouldn't let any of the other giraffes anywhere near the feeding station.

Enrichment day at the zoo means toys and puzzles for the animals. This jaguar loved his bucket of frozen fishicles!

"Ommm... Ommm"

She looks so fierce...too bad she was just yawning.

3 comments:

  1. I like your idea of Photo Friday's. I might use that. But that would mean I'd have to blog on a regular basis... I'm the same way about Zoos and Aquariums. I could sit at the aquarium all day and that would be perfectly fine with me.

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  2. I hear you on the "blogging regularly" thing. It is really hard for me to stick to it. I go through spurts where I blog everyday and then nothing for months!

    I wish there was an aquarium closer to me. The nearest one is a couple of hours, which doesn't sound like a lot...but...you know how it goes...gas prices, obligations, bleck! I would love to do a Great America Aquarium Road Trip one day!

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  3. I completely understand. Every time we go home to IL to visit, we say we're going to go to Chicago and take the kids to the Shed Aquarium. My oldest is almost 17 and we still haven't done it. Maybe we'll get there before we have grandchildren. :)

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