A Day at the National Zoo in Washington, DC

When day three without power after Hurricane Irene came, I think one of my friends knew that I needed to get away from my house or I was going to go insane. So, she invited me and my girls to visit the zoo with her and her two children. It was just what we needed!



Ash & Bean on the Metro headed to the National Zoo

 We hopped on the Metro and navigated our way to the stop closest to the Zoo. That may sound like the easiest thing to do but my friend and I don't ride the Metro very often and we had to figure out how to buy our tickets and follow the map with four kids eager to not only get to the Zoo but to ride on the Metro as well. We did very well though (and by we, I mean my friend). We got to the Zoo in no time and hit the pavement in search of animals.

The kids raced through to find the always popular pandas. Then we were off to Ash's favorite animal, the elephant...

Look at the beautiful smile that an elephant can bring to Ash's face.

Ash and Bean discussing the many facts they know about elephants.

What I should have taken a picture of was my face as we got closer and the smell got stronger. I love animals, but man, can't they come out with some kind of Febreze that makes it not smell like a Zoo?! The elephant area wasn't too awful...I didn't gag or anything until we got to the hogs...

Be very thankful that I cannot attach the smell that goes with this picture!! Very thankful!!!

The hogs did me in! I know they can't help it and really, if someone washed them in some Johnsons & Johnsons Lavendar baby wash, I may even want to pet them but not this day. I wanted to get away from them as quickly as possible. I couldn't though because the kids (who apparently can't smell a hog close up but can smell cookies baking in the oven from down the street) thought they looked cute. So, how do you get kids away from an animal that you can't stand the smell of?! You distract them with yet another stinky animal and then another until you finally find yourself in the open pathway with the smell of popcorn and pretzel stands on both sides. But then the wind blows and you get a wiff of animal when you shouldn't. And then you look up...

Yep, that's an orangutan above my head...really!!

Not only do I not like the smell but I also get a bit creeped out by an orangutan sitting on a cable above my head. The kids loved it and so do the majority of the visitors at the Zoo but I knew it would bring some kind of crazy dream/nightmare that night (and I was right...it did...mostly that I had a lot of hair growing in places that it shouldn't and I couldn't get the smell out of it...no matter what shampoo I used).

Just after those cables is the reptile house. I ran in because I needed to take a picture of not a reptile but a drawing of a reptile. Not only was it done by someone we know but it was done by someone we know and love. I took a bunch of pictures but I could not figure out how to get a good one without the flash showing (still another thing I have to master). Anyway, check it out...


Woohoo!! Chris's oldest brother, my brother in law and the girls' uncle is so talented. This python looked more life like than the one behind the glass!!

 We visited with many animals and had a blast. We had amazing weather, were in the company of wonderful friends and during the time we spent there...we had toilets that flushed and sinks that flowed! Life was good!!!

What have you done to get your mind off of a major power outage?