Cheyenne Mountain Zoo
Zoey and I drove to Colorado Springs today to go the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo. It's literature attests it's the only zoo located on the side of a mountain, and that there's a tram that takes you to the top and you walk down. Plus, they had giraffes; Zoey loves giraffes.
It's gotta be one of the most beautiful zoos in the world. They weren't kidding about being on a mountain; the main road just goes up. And it turns out, after Labor Day the trams only run on the weekends. However, it wasn't crowded at all, and I was able to let Zoey run free (part of the time).
Right past the entrance are the giraffes (the African Rift exhibit). They weren't just bragging--it is a great giraffe exhibit. There must have been 30 giraffes wandering around a big pen with an observation deck curving along the side of the cliff. On one side, hungry and friendly giraffes, on the other, an incredible view of Colorado Springs. Then you look up and realize the zoo is quite large, and the rest of it is uphill. Oh well, I much prefer an uncrowded zoo.
We walked up to the giraffes and for awhile were the only ones. I couldn't believe how may there were, and as I walked toward the railing to get a better look, about three of them saw me and came straight at me, their doe-like eyes rather presumptuously expectant. One saw Zoey, who had almost made it to the bamboo rail, and quickly thrust his head toward her. Of course, this frightened her and she took four rapid steps back toward me.
I went back to the zoo worker's desk and asked how much the giraffe crackers were. I bought four for a dollar and gave a piece of one to Zoey, who had wandered over to a round, fish-eye window that was placed toddler height. She had gotten over her initial shock at having a large giraffe head poking at her, and was pointing at the baby giraffe that was looking at her through the window. I gave her a piece of a cracker, which were like three-inch-long pieces of shredded wheat, and tried to talk her into feeding it to one of the giraffes. I got a kick out of feeding them myself, actually, but boy these giraffes are spoiled! They're like pigeons gathered around an old person on a park bench, just wandering around, looking at you, sticking their long, black tongues out at you. Then you placed the cracker gently on their tongue, like giving them communion. Not that I've ever actually given anyone communion. Well, actually, I have, but I wasn't supposed to.
Zoey never let herself get close enough to feed any of the giraffes, which was probably frustrating to the baby giraffe whose tongue kept reaching out to her. She did take a few ginger steps with her hand out, but in the end, she just wasn't that brave. And these giraffes were pretty big, demanding creatures. Oh well. I so wanted a picture.
The rest of the zoo was really nice, too, but the only other truly stand out exhibit were the tigers, who had this mountainous setting with a stream across the bottom. These two tigers actually looked like they were having a good time, acting like a couple of cats playing around, chasing each other.
I let Zoey run free for a little while, but unfortunately, she seems to get very distracted by things like mud puddles and pebbles. And I discovered something about her that is really kind of scary. If she's enjoying what she's doing, I can say "bye bye" and walk away from her, out of sight, and she won't care! She'll just keep doing what she's doing, and she'll even say "bye" back to me.
You can see more pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/sadlikecrazy, just click on the zoo photo album.
It's gotta be one of the most beautiful zoos in the world. They weren't kidding about being on a mountain; the main road just goes up. And it turns out, after Labor Day the trams only run on the weekends. However, it wasn't crowded at all, and I was able to let Zoey run free (part of the time).
Right past the entrance are the giraffes (the African Rift exhibit). They weren't just bragging--it is a great giraffe exhibit. There must have been 30 giraffes wandering around a big pen with an observation deck curving along the side of the cliff. On one side, hungry and friendly giraffes, on the other, an incredible view of Colorado Springs. Then you look up and realize the zoo is quite large, and the rest of it is uphill. Oh well, I much prefer an uncrowded zoo.
We walked up to the giraffes and for awhile were the only ones. I couldn't believe how may there were, and as I walked toward the railing to get a better look, about three of them saw me and came straight at me, their doe-like eyes rather presumptuously expectant. One saw Zoey, who had almost made it to the bamboo rail, and quickly thrust his head toward her. Of course, this frightened her and she took four rapid steps back toward me.
I went back to the zoo worker's desk and asked how much the giraffe crackers were. I bought four for a dollar and gave a piece of one to Zoey, who had wandered over to a round, fish-eye window that was placed toddler height. She had gotten over her initial shock at having a large giraffe head poking at her, and was pointing at the baby giraffe that was looking at her through the window. I gave her a piece of a cracker, which were like three-inch-long pieces of shredded wheat, and tried to talk her into feeding it to one of the giraffes. I got a kick out of feeding them myself, actually, but boy these giraffes are spoiled! They're like pigeons gathered around an old person on a park bench, just wandering around, looking at you, sticking their long, black tongues out at you. Then you placed the cracker gently on their tongue, like giving them communion. Not that I've ever actually given anyone communion. Well, actually, I have, but I wasn't supposed to.
Zoey never let herself get close enough to feed any of the giraffes, which was probably frustrating to the baby giraffe whose tongue kept reaching out to her. She did take a few ginger steps with her hand out, but in the end, she just wasn't that brave. And these giraffes were pretty big, demanding creatures. Oh well. I so wanted a picture.
The rest of the zoo was really nice, too, but the only other truly stand out exhibit were the tigers, who had this mountainous setting with a stream across the bottom. These two tigers actually looked like they were having a good time, acting like a couple of cats playing around, chasing each other.
I let Zoey run free for a little while, but unfortunately, she seems to get very distracted by things like mud puddles and pebbles. And I discovered something about her that is really kind of scary. If she's enjoying what she's doing, I can say "bye bye" and walk away from her, out of sight, and she won't care! She'll just keep doing what she's doing, and she'll even say "bye" back to me.
You can see more pictures at http://photos.yahoo.com/sadlikecrazy, just click on the zoo photo album.
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