Life of Lydia

Dear readers, on the third day of our trip we met up with my cousins at the Smithsonian Zoo.

To get to the Zoo, we rode the Metro, and transferred to the red line at Fort Totten. We have since decided that this is our favorite Metro Station.

We got off at the Woodley Park Metro Station, and discovered that it has an impressive escalator! I took a video of this and other Metro experiences which I will link to HERE.

The entrance to the Zoo had the widest crosswalk I have ever seen. I would also like to point out two instances of misleading marketing in the above photo. First of all there are two large signs advertising that “The Pandas are coming!” When I saw this same ad on the Zoo’s website I interpreted it to mean that the Zoo was adding more Pandas to their existing collection. But no, I learned that the Zoo had to send their Pandas back to China, but they were going to get more. The Zoo still uses Pandas as a major part of their marketing. There are Panda signs everywhere, a Panda themed gift shop and restaurant, and a huge Panda statue, but no actual Pandas! There are also two large Lion statues sporting impressive manes at the entrance to the zoo. Although the zoo has one girl Lion, there are no males and no manes! So the moral of the story is, just because you see an animal prominently depicted at the entrance to the zoo, don’t count on actually seeing a live example!

We met up with my cousins once we had entered the zoo.

Hadley made me a lovely Rainbow Loom bracelet!

We began our visit by eating lunch at the Mane Cafe. (again, false marketing!) But despite the name, it was a decent place to eat.

Here is the one Lion. Although she is pretty cute, she definitely does NOT have a mane!

I kept looking around for the boy, after all the hype about manes, but he didn’t exist. At the Dikerson Park Zoo in Springfield, Mo they do have a boy Lion and one time we even heard him roar! (Photo credit: Dave McKinstry)

They had two tigers who were napping.

Our family has an inside joke about bobcats, so it was fun to see one at the zoo. (Photo credit: Dave McKinstry)

The bobcats were pretty active.

The prairie dogs were fun to watch.

Hadley showing Sawyer the porcupine.

These Monkeys were very entertaining.

Everyone except the dads climbed up close to get a good view of the Monkeys. (Photo credit: Dave McKinstry)

The reptile house was very popular. This is a komodo dragon.

I asked Isaac to pose for me.

Very chill iguana.

The snapping turtle was a bit unnerving.

Taking a break after the reptile house. Isaac is not in the photo because he was sitting on a frog statue off to the side. (Photo credit: Dave McKinstry)

The primate house was very entertaining. The gorilla mom and baby were especially cute.

One of the orangutans was sitting up close to the window! A zoo worker told us her name was Lucy.

I got a lot of quality time with Hadley.

It was important to Reid that we visit the Amazon themed building. (Photo credit: Dave McKinstry)

The birds were not in cadges. We saw one poop on the floor.

If you just haven’t had enough content about our visit to the zoo, you can view my compilation of video clips by clicking on this LINK.

Back at home, Kit Kat went hunting!