Califorina Baby!

A few days after we got back from Yellowstone we drove down to California with a few of our friends. We played at the beach a lot and on Friday some of us went to the Zoo. I have to say, I enjoyed the zoo more than I did Disneyland. Those of you how know me well, understand why I wouldn't like Disneyland in the first place.

Here are a few of the cool animals we saw. Some of the pictures I didn't post like of the tigers and things we have at our zoo. Hope you enjoy!



This is a beautiful snake tree snake who was posing for a picture. I know some of you don't like snakes but this guy is gorgeous! The bright colors, I wish I could be that shade of green!



Flamingos... do you know why Flamingos are pink? They eat so much shrimp that the pink pigment in the shrimp turn their feathers pink. Cool huh!



This was a weird little bird. It is called a Guam Rail. It was the weirdest looking bird I have ever seen. What is sad is it is extinct in the wild. I was amazed we actually saw it in the exhibit with all the other animals.



I am not quite sure what this little guy is. He was in the exhibit with the Koala Bears so I assume he is related, but he was hiding under the walkway so most people did not see him. He is pretty cute though!



Here is a Koala Bear. I have never seen on in person before so this was pretty cool. There were about 30 of them and they were all curled up in their trees sleeping. We got this one to look at us a few times and I was able to get a good picture. Did you know... Koala Bears do not have ribs. If you ever have the opportunity to pick one up, you have to be careful not to squeeze them or you could seriously injure it.



This guy is a Southern Yellow-footed Rock Wallaby. Cute!



These guys were really cool! I cannot remember what they are but if you look at their feet, they have 4 little hooves on each foot. They would just jump on these steep rocks and climb up! Apparently the 4 little hooves on each foot acts like suction cups when they climb. When they put weight on their feet they can climb up almost anything. They were cool. There was one of them that had really cool horns but I could not get a good picture of him.



It was perfect timing as we walked by the Spotted Hyena's as it was feeding time. I have never seen a Hyena in person before either and it was kinda of scary at first. They are pretty large animals and pretty intimidating. I would not want to run across one in the wild.



After watching them for a little while they started to seem pretty cute. I would still be afraid to meet one face to face, but they are pretty cute animals too.



This is a cute kitty stretching! It is some kind of bobcat or mountain lion. Cannot remember.



This was a very cute and active Jaguar. I think it was just after his dinner because he was very active. He had this little pool of water that he kept swimming in. There was a fish in there and it kept chasing it all around. Just about the cutest thing I have ever seen!



This was a weird looking bird. It is a Secretary Bird. Their name comes from Arabic meaning "hunter bird." This bird hunts on foot unlike most other birds.



The Elephants! They had a cool elephant exhibit. Before you got to the actual elephants you could walk around a fake tar pit learning about all the animals that have been found in the California tar pits. The elephants were cute and kept swaying like they were dancing. Some would start bobbing their heads even. I wonder what the elephant was singing.


This is a Siberian Lynx. He was cute and kept walking around. The picture is kind of blurry because of the fence. I think this might be the same cat from earlier that I couldn't remember what he was...



Panda Bear!!! This was really cool because this guy was running around looking for something to play with. I was amazed by how fast he could run. It was cool to actually see him up and moving. I assumed that they would all be asleep and we wouldn't be able to see anything but no, he was wide awake and ready to play!



This Polar Bear was so funny! He was perched on his rock just posing for pictures it seemed. I have never seen so many of the cool animals at the zoo so active. It was really neat to see the ones you never see up and moving around like this guy.



The Zebras!


This is a different breed of Flamingo but the way his beak opened was really cool. I hope you can see it well enough in this picture.



This guy was very odd. He is an Okapi. Now he looks like a cross between a hyena, a mule, and a zebra. If you are ever close to one be careful because they spit! A lot of stuff came out of this guys mouth, not the prettiest sight I have ever seen.



These are Malayan Tapir's. They are big animals, the pictures does not show their size. They have a nose like an elephant, but are actually related to the rhino.


Some while and crazy monkeys named Sarah and Brent.



Saturday morning we ventured to go on a hike. Unfortunately we could not find the hike we were suppose to go on so we found another. We were suppose to be able to see the ocean from the top but it was too foggy to see :(. As you can tell, I have photo shopped myself out of the picture ;)


One our way home we were able to see a double rainbow. What was cool about this rainbow was you could actually see the end. Again, something I have never seen before, but you could see wait the rainbow started and stopped. It was not hiding behind a building or a mountain. Too bad there wasn't a pot of gold. :(




Sarah did not eat her vegetables on the trip and lost a few inches off her height... she no longer fits on a normal size chair... Hopefully she has learned her lesson.


Everyone at the end of the trip. We have a blast and are going to try to do it again this winter!

Until Next Time...