I’m pleased to report that today’s trip to the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere was highly successful (the story of our previous attempt is here). We spent four and a half hours there, and everyone had a wonderful time. This was our second visit overall, but probably our first that Aaron will remember.
The way the weather forecast read, our zoo visit was to occur in a window of fair weather between two systems of rain. That’s exactly how it played out. It rained intermittently all the way up, but it was gone by the time we got there (about 20 minutes after the gates opened). It was upper 60s and overcast, then lower 70s and sunny, for our visit. Couldn’t ask for better.
It’s a fine facility. The animals all seem to be in excellent condition, and the paths are spacious and well-maintained. The zoo employees are personable and knowledgeable. It’s tough to pick any nits at all, really.
I took a little more than 300 photos. About half of them are any good, and about a quarter of those are great. I’ll make the full-res versions available sometime soon, but here are a few blog-sized ones for now:
Have to get these moments while we can. Won’t be long before they’re too cool for the carousel.
What the hell are you looking at?
On the way to the watering hole.
I must have two dozen outstanding giraffe photos. I’d have been tickled twist-legged to score even one or two of these on a film camera. That is my favorite thing about digital cameras: attempts are free.
The red panda comes out to say hello.
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Oh man. Are you teaching them the “raise hail (hell)” hand signs already?
Glad this trip turned out better than the last. We managed to get our game in; thankfully no rain. We celebrated by slamming back some ice cold slushes at sonic.
‘seester: That is “I love you” in ASL.
With the thumb tucked in and over the second and third fingers, it is the Il Cornuto gesture, and indicates either “raise hell,” “rock ‘n’ roll,” or “Hail Satan,” depending on who you ask.
Glad you guys had good weather for your game. We had Dippin’ Dots at the zoo for our festive sweet. 🙂
I love going to the zoo. We are members of our local zoo, and this entitles us to unlimited entries, and entry to a number of other zoos in the state. I’ve posted quite a few pics from various zoos on my blog and on Flickr. Looking forward to seeing more of yours.
Okay, I Love you from a sweet little boy is good. Lawrence and I have a secret hand sign for I love Mom/Mom loves me so I don’t embarrass him in front of other kids.
Tell Nathan that Miss Chili says “I love you, too!” (did he really know what that hand signal means, or was he just being cool?)
I’m SO glad you had a good time – I was worried, given your last attempt!
Tell me about your camera. I’ve been wanting something like what you and Seester have, and am seriously considering asking Santa for a new outfit this coming holiday, but I need to give him an idea of what I want…
Mrs. Chili: Yes, he was saying “I love you.” He knows what it means. Guess where I learned it when I was his age? ZOOM.
‘seester owns more camera than I do, but we both have digital SLRs. I greatly prefer them to the smaller cameras. I like the feel and the flexibility for different situations, though I probably leave it in the fully automatic mode three-fourths of the time. Plus, I like being able to leverage accessories from my older film cameras, like flashes and lenses.