Wednesday, April 04, 2001

April 4, Part 3: A trip to the Heritage Park Zoo near Prescott

We all went out to the Prescott (Heritage Park) Zoo for awhile. The weather was beautiful, and some of us will jump at any excuse to see animals. Right away I realized this wasn't one of your big city zoos. I do like their mailbox, and of course the setting is pleasant out in the open country.

And I like their gate. Nice animal art!

There was more animal art as we entered the zoo, which had a lot of open space. That's dad. It was nice to see him getting out and enjoying walking around. What was sad was how the Alzheimer's and Parkinson's was aging him beyond his years. Again, it made me know that this was a very special few days we were all spending together.

Approaching the animals. They're around here somewhere. I wonder if they have a TAPIR?

But wait! Time for a pit stop since the restrooms are en route. Umm. The restroom was brand new and clean, but it seems they ran out of money before they got to the partitions. I've been told that men's bathrooms are like this fairly often, but I haven't been in one. I've never seen a ladies' room without the partitions. OK, I'll wait outside, lemme know when you're done. I was never one of those girls who liked to go to the restroom in gaggles.

Gary wanted to let Kathy and me know that the men's room was special, too. Thanks, Gar.

This is called "Tarantula Grotto." Of course, there were spider exhibits inside.

"Please do not step on spiders, ever." I like that.

This is Coyote Freeway.

We didn't see Abbey the Mountain Lion, but she had a nice sign, and I liked it that there was glass to look through, and not just wire or bars. If she had been out, I might have gotten a nice picture.

Finally I was getting to see a javalina.

Up close, too, but the wire wasn't conducive to photos.

Here's a pronghorn. As you can see, there's a lot of space out here. It made the visit kind of surreal, or maybe it was just a lazy-feeling day and I'm not used to that. I find every excuse to work and be busy most of the time.

"Hi, Pronghorn."

Thematic painted signs. This is where the jaguar lived. It seems the cats were taking siestas.

The black bear was friendly, at least with fencing between us it was a nice encounter. The zoo also has a Bengal tiger and some ring-tailed lemurs and a few other things.

Gary and Dad. Don't ask me why I take pictures of people when they're not looking and then don't take any when they are looking. Maybe it's because I don't like my own picture taken, but I'm really going to work on this.

Gary meets a kindred spirit. "Where's the food, guy?" So, that was our day at the zoo.


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