Animal City

Last Friday I hopped a train to New York City.

I was going to NYC to meet Tam, one of my faithful blog readers and kindest ladies I know and her daughter Kristen.

I walked from Penn Station to Central Park (really wasn't that bad) and texted Tam, telling her I was at the fountain. She told me she was too.

But I didn't see her..... So she said "Come to the Apple elevator." So I crossed the street and looked all around the Apple elevator.

But I still didn't see her.... Well, finally we found each other and headed into the park. We were going to visit the Central Park Zoo!

But Tam saw the long line and wasn't having any of that. So we got lunch at this cafe, where Tam and I bonded over our love of Snapple and gossiped about the other Dancing Monkeys of Puntabuland.

After lunch, we headed back to the zoo and the line was much shorter. There were so many kids going into the park! Like this cute one:

Is it creepy that I took a picture of a stranger?

So we eventually got into the zoo. First, we went to the Tropic Zone.

There were a lot of birds in this section.

There was also a tortoise

and some snakes

and some other kind of reptile

and a sleeping lemur!

and best of all, MONKEYS!

Here's a sweet shot of a monkey teleporting to the branch.

It was feeding time in the monkey cage.

It was VERY HOT in the Tropic Zone, and at first I thought that the zoo people decided to make it hot so that we could feel what it's like in the tropics. So I complained to Tam, "Why did they make this room so hot?? Who wants to sit around in a hot room? What an awful idea!!" And she was like, "Umm... I think the animals need it to be this temperature...." and wondered how I got into college.

After leaving the Tropic Zone, we walked around outside and saw some swimming birds.

and pigeons

and turtles, all lined up on a log.

We also saw a duck

and we tried to see the Red Pandas, but they were sleeping in the trees and it was hard to see them.

The snow monkeys were also sleeping

as were the polar bears.

What lazy zoo animals!!

We did see a sea lion

who was obviously a camera whore as he snuck into every picture I tried to take of this bird.

Then we went to the penguin house!

It was also feeding time here.

We also saw some puffins.

and a duck was randomly swimming with the puffins.

Outside, we saw the snow monkeys that weren't sleeping: a baby monkey and its guardian.

Tam and I sat on a bench because we were tired of walking around for a photo op.

We then went to the petting zoo!
The entrance to the petting zoo has this carving above it of a young boy being attacked by the animals.

We saw some birds again (including a peacock)

and bunnies (and some kid who was sticking his arm in their habitat, trying to touch them).

This is how I look with bunny ears.

Then we went to see the animals we could actually pet!

I don't know what kind of animal is in the above picture, but I thought it looked really cool.

I fed a cow!

And in another pen, we saw some goats.

I think this last one is pretty and wise looking. Tam doesn't.

Then we saw one of my favorite animals: pigs!!

We finished our zoo tour and sat on a rock in Central Park.

And finally, we walked around Central Park

and took pictures of strangers.... It was great!

I had a great time in NYC and I thought seeing all the animals was really cool! Tam and Kristen are wonderful and I hope I see them again soon.

And did I mention that Tam got me gifts?

She got me a shirt (in the right size and my favorite color!) and soft maple sugar. Mmmm.
(and note that I still haven't changed my Puntabulous calendar to April! OK, just did it.)

Thanks for meeting with me Tam!
Now who do I meet next....