Today was the last day Seriah's Grandma, Gigi, was here visiting in NM all the way from MD, so we went to the zoo in ABQ. The sea lion feeding was disappointing, the peacocks stunning and the lions put on a most wonderful opera! Seriah Got a brochure from the ticket counter that listed the feeding times for the animals. The sea-lions were not yet fed, so after everyone who hadn't applied sunscreen in the parking lot applied it near the flamingoes (who didn't smell all that pretty because--according to the sign--it was breeding season and there was a lot of "Organic Matter" in their pond)we walked through the reptilian building seeing all sorts of snakes and lizards and also a very large alligator (or was it a crocodile?!).
(There's Grant, monkeying around.)
We got there ahead of time, so we got to see the sea-lions and seals swimming in lazy figure-8s for at least 10 minutes standing under the broiling sun. It was so hot it made Seriah want to jump right in with the seals! The feeding was actually rather boring. No flips or anything. Then we moved on to the African animals.
There was a baby giraffe that was really cute. And a cute baby Rhino. We stopped at the cement pond and feed the pretty ducks and foot-long goldfish. It was all Seriah could do to keep me from trying to eat them. Then we stopped at the bathrooms, and outside there were a few peacocks roaming, lose. Then all of a sudden, the male starts raising his tail and shaking it, making a rattling sound, trying to impress the ladies.
They weren't impressed, but we loved it! Then we saw the monkeys, birds (there was one that was the ugliest bird Seriah had ever seen! Personally, I think that eagle that kept making meals out of my men in Mossflower was the ugliest bird ever.) Then the most glorious animals of all: the big cats!
This is my noble breed: the mountain lion. You can see my relative if you look very closely in the shadows.
Most of them were not as attractive as I, languidly laying about their cages, panting in the hot air. The lions were a different story altogether; coming up through the tunnel of other cats' cages, we could hear loud roars. It sounded like a recording. (I still have not gotten used to your new inventions--they are such magic!) But, as we got closer, we could see the end of a male lion sticking out of a room in the red concrete wall. Every few seconds he kept roaring: Reow! Roar. Ruh! Then a female lion, who was lying on her side in the shade of a tree started roaring at him! "Row!" "Roar." "Grow!" "Ruh!" It was very fun. After the zoo, we all went out to supper at The Elephant Bar (Very coincidental--it was not part of the zoo) in honor of Grant's 11th Birthday. I have a picture of this also, but I need to get it from Gigi, Seriah's Grandmother.
Well, that's all for now.
(Former) Queen of Mossflower,
Tsarmina Green-eyes
