Lions Tigers and Bears . . .

This post is intended to be an unsolicitated advertisement for those of you who have never been to the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. Natalie and I have always been big fans of zoos, and the North Carolina Zoo in particular. I can still remember one of our first dates to the Zoo, but I digress . . .

So . . . this past Fourth of July, Natalie and I went to the North Carolina Zoo with some of our friends who were in town working at the North Carolina Girls Soccer Camp. The Camp was being held at Guilford College for a couple of weeks instead of UNC (go figure).

In any case, we started out the day by meeting the soccer camp crew at Guilford College. After some negotiations, we had the privilege of transporting Evan (pictured directly below) and Gian Carlo (pictured second below) on the way to the Zoo. Do they look ready for a trip to the Zoo or what?! I think Evan is practicing his Tai Chi. Nice form!

As soon as we got to the Zoo, we headed straight for the alligators in the North American "Swamp" exhibit. Unfortunately the alligators were too speedy to catch on film, so I decided to snap this photo of a turtle who was not quite as agile. Isn't he a cute little guy?

Evan took a particular interest in the turtles; and from the picture, it appears the the interest was mutual.

Here's a good picture of some of the crew headed out of the "Swamp." Sean (pictured front and center in the red shirt) just graduated from the Charleston School of Law and took a break from his Bar preparations to join us at the Zoo. He looks a lot more relaxed than I did when I was studying for the Bar this time last year . . .

After checking out the alligators, we headed to see the seals (or at least I think they are seals, but they may have been sea lions). If anyone knows the difference, please educate us. In any case, they were fun to watch as they chased each other around the pool.

There's even an underwater observation area at the North Carolina Zoo; so they can run, but they can't hide.

By the way, did I mention that we left for the Zoo at like 8:00 AM (Natalie's idea) on our day off?! We got there so early that these little guys were not even awake yet . . .

I must admit though, one good thing about getting to the Zoo early is that the animals that are awake are a lot more active than in the hot afternoon. Even the polar bear was lounging out of the water!

I have no clue what this little guy is, but he was so cool. He was hamming it up for the camera, so I had to snap a quick picture of him.

We had such a great time at the Zoo, not only because we had the day off from work and got to go to the Zoo, but because we got to spend time with some friends that we don't get to see that often. We particularly had a good time watching the kids explore the Zoo!!!

Here's Emma (left), Gian Carlo (right), and Evan (back) trying to get an "a-wall" bison under control. Nice hat Emma!

But, as the day wore on, some of the little ones started to feel the effects of trekking around the Zoo all morning, so Sean got a workout carrying them around in the afternoon.

After spending the morning in the North America side of the Zoo, we ventured over to the African exhibits for the afternoon. For some reason, the animals in Africa just look more regal those in North America. There are no animals even remotely as cool as the giraffe in North America (except at the Zoo). I guess the grass is always greener . . .

Another case in point, check out this tiger with her cub. The tiger cubs are a new addition to the Zoo. As you can see, they are trying to escape the hot sun by hiding in the shade, so I had to use by "super" zoom to get a picture of them.

After exploring Africa, we were pretty exhausted from the long day of touring the Zoo on foot, so we decided to take the "tram" from the Africa exhibits back to the North America parking lot.

And so, we rode the tram back to North America, and called it a day. All in all, a pretty successful trip to the North Carolina Zoo. Here's Natalie and Beth (her friend from high school and roommate in college) riding the tram. They look happy to be off their feet!