O Canada: Calgary Zoo

On our last full day in Calgary we went to the zoo with my parents. (Peter headed south to Utah that morning.)  This is where the magnitude of Adah's photography really came out. She took dozens and dozens of pictures. I couldn't possibly put them all on here and tried to pick a sample of the best shots--ones that weren't fuzzy (with a few exceptions), had our family in them, or showed our favorite animals. Enjoy this tour of the Calgary Zoo!

 

These cool metal sculptures were lining the walkway from the parking lot to the ticket window.  There were many different animal silhouettes.



 

They were also fun to climb on.  Here I am with Holly and Maggie:

 

 The first animals we saw were of the native-to-Canada variety.

Big Horn Sheep:

 

Caribou:

We, along with many other zoo patrons, were able to sneak through some trees off the path and get really close to the fence where some of these caribou were just sitting and hanging out.

 

a.k.a. Reindeer

This guy had a particularly gigantic rack of antlers. They actually fall off and grow again EVERY YEAR.  I thought that was pretty amazing given the size of some of the racks. It looked like a big pain in the neck (literally) to have to carry those around.  

 

The photographer briefly relinquished her camera to pose on this cool log.

 

As usual, Mom was the new photographer; there are never any pictures of me! Actually, to be honest, there was a picture of me by this log, but you couldn't see all the kids faces, so I chose to post this one of Damon and the kiddos riding the bears.

 

Otters:

I love otters. I think they're so cool, and cute. We loved watching them swim and play in their habitat. In this photo, one had just climbed out of the water and another is poking his head out.

 

They seem to have so much fun and even had some slides (see the bottom of the tube behind this guy?) taking them from the rocks into the water.

 

The viewing area had a window that allowed us to the see the otters swimming underwater, too. I love how smoothly they move through the water. They don't use their front paws at all, just their rear legs and tails.

 

Musk Ox:

Prairie Dogs:

Adah was very patient trying to get a shot of one of these guys popping out of one of their holes. They were not very obliging.

Peacock:
There were several of these fellows wandering around.

Flamingos:

 

Butterflies:

The zoo had one of those warm and humid butterfly habitats where you enter through two sets of doors, wander around marveling, and then have to check for hitchhikers before exiting. I love these places. Something about butterflies is so magical, especially with children, I think.



 

I never seem to get any hitchhikers, or even brief visitors.  My mom, however, made a little friend:

(I believe these butterfly photos can be credited to Maggie's camera, by the way.)

 

Elephants:

I really like elephants, too. We were in time for a zoo keeper talk at the elephants and learned a bit about who was who and how long they'd been there. The usually-solitary bull even came over to say hello. This one, however, I believe is one of the females.

 

Snow Leopards: (I think)

Can you see them sleeping on their platform?

Vampire Bat:

 

Shortly after the bats we made it over to the tiger habitat where a new mother and her three 4-month-old cubs made an appearance. They often stay inside a little house, but they came out to a platform where they lazed about.  The adult male tigers were in an adjacent enclosure and they were pacing around on the opposite side (making a good photo difficult). Their pacing was no doubt due to the storm that was brewing in the skies.

Everything got very windy and very dark as a major rain (and hail in other parts of Calgary) storm blew in! I was with my parents, Holly, and Gunnar, while Damon had the older girls on the opposite side of the habitat where we each had to take cover under small shelters where the signs about the animals were.  We stayed there for a few minutes before seeking shelter in a crowded gift shop.  After that we went dashing through the zoo in the rain (it had let up a bit and wasn't coming down in sheets). We were trying to make it to the cars, but opted to re-visit the butterfly habitat when a zoo keeper let us in the back way.

We'd seen the weather reports and were expecting afternoon showers, but the intensity of this storm really took us by surprise. As we raced through the zoo, we were not only avoiding puddles but also downed branches that had fallen in the paths. There were also some larger branches in some of the habitats and it's probably very luck that no one--human or animal--was injured. It was a truly smashing way to end our trip.

We had intended to just call it a day and head back to the car, but the storm blew through so quickly that it was all over and done with in about 20 minutes. From our butterfly shelter we explored a few more areas of the zoo. One of the most memorable visits was with the hippos. Sandra Boynton sure makes them look cute, but, I gotta say, those things are UG-LY. And, their territory-marking behaviors (or whatever the reason) are pretty gross. We witnessed it.

All in all, a great day at the zoo learning more about the amazing animals that inhabit this earth. The Calgary Zoo was well-done and we loved spending the day with my parents. The kiddos were super well-behaved and it a fun finish to our time in Calgary.

The next morning we headed home, intending to stay the night somewhere in Idaho, as we had on the way up, but long about Couer d'Alene, we decided to just go for it and rolled into White Salmon sometime before midnight with a carful of sleeping kids. Phew! I'm so glad we made the time amidst all our crazy moving plans to visit my parents. It was great to see them (and Pete) and to really take a break from everything that needed to be done at home.