Portland Zoo, Part 5 of WA/OR trip, Oct. 2012

So far, I have taken you to the Ape Caves and Mount St. Helens in Washington. Then we went back across the river and visited OMSI and Seaside. Now let's go to the Zoo!

Karen got us directions to meeting in Portland and that was nice. After a nice Sunday morning meeting, we headed back to Karen and Scott's to pack a lunch to eat on the way to the Zoo.

Here we are all dressed up...

It was a chilly day and threatening rain, so we hoped the rain would hold off so we could enjoy our walk without becoming soggy! We drove across the Marquam Bridge (I believe) on our way and could see 4 other bridges across the Willamette River! We like the bridges...Portland really is a cool town.

We visited the elephants...I don't know which one this is, but the story of Packy is a fun one, and Tusko is the father of the baby, Lily, born about a month after we were there. The kids tried to ride a tricycle an elephant rode in a circus. They thought it was funny to think of an elephant riding a tricycle. I did too.

 But Annisia thought it was cool to ride an elephant...

 And a lion...

 Jonathan liked the Big Horn sheep.

Hmmm...world class pouter in action. Not sure why, but I must have thought it was cute...

Lions are so awesome. We got to see these lionesses run and pounce on the male!

This is a caracal...or desert lynx.

And these are wild African dogs...they look pretty relaxed to me.

The cheetah exhibit featured a Jeep whose windshield was part of the glass wall. The kids thought it was cool to pretend to drive across the savannah.

These cheetahs were so lithe...they are just fluid when they walk.

Then the kids became part of the mongoose exhibit!

I really like the giraffes. I think they are so cool. Annisia and Jonathan enjoyed an elephant ear...


We saw zebras too. And polar bears...they just laid there and did nothing. C'mon, don't they know people come to the zoo to see them DO things?! The otters were pretty boring too, but here's an update on the new baby otter...

We left the zoo and went to Newport Bay Riverplace restaurant, floating on the Willamette River, for dinner. While we were waiting for our dinner, guess what we saw in the river?! Yes! An otter! Swimming, diving, floating! All of it...for our dining pleasure. Ahhh...

Thanks for joining us on our trip to the Pacific Northwest...come back again!