BEARLY WILD BEARS

Today was a glorious day in Minnesota.  Sunny and crisp and the colors in the countryside are beginning to turn orange, red, yellow.  Perfect fall day.  I went to the Minnesota Zoo for the first time in many years.  My daughter-like friend Lori had free passes and asked me to go.  I was excited because I just don't drive in the metro area anymore and going to the zoo was on my list of things to do this summer.  We left at 9:00 and arrived around 10:00.  Our first stop was at the African penguin exhibit.  You don't think of Africa as having penguins but these little guys hang out there.

It was feeding time and they were eager to get their fish mush.  The gal on the left was keeping track of how many were eating probably.  Pretty cute.

We then took the entire tour.  I had to stop and take pictures of the pink flamingos.

I didn't know they got their pink color from the algae they ate.  They're not as bright as the lawn ornaments but by far more beautiful.  As we walked the Northern Trek we came upon the beautiful tigers sunning themselves so I whipped out my camera for another shot and my batteries were dead.  Arggg.  Sorry, no more pictures but we had a wonderful time.  We were shocked to see that we did the entire zoo tour in about 2 1/2 hours and we took our time.  No crowds.  We stopped on our way home for dinner at the World Buffet and it was wonderful.  Chinese food, mostly, and fresh and tasty.  Thanks, Lori, for a wonderful day.