fur and food

We timed our spring zoo visit perfectly this year: early enough in the season to catch the May Zoo Babies exhibits and late enough that the Bird Show had started its summer schedule.

We arrived at the zoo just in time to catch the Galápagos tortoise encounter. I was super excited to pet a tortoise! These tortoises were "tiny" babies at just 7 years old... the zoo won't even be able to test the gender until they are 15 years old!

We wandered around the zoo for several hours, and I had fun photographing all the animals. Most retreated into the shade for afternoon snoozes as the day got fairly toasty!

The bird show was amazing, as usual. I just LOVE seeing all these interesting and exotic birds. The parrots are so talented with their mimicking and tricks and the birds of prey are both scary and impressive.

This goofy bird was demonstrating its obnoxiously loud call. This photo makes me laugh so much!

We finished the day out in the new African exhibit. This lion mama was snuggling with her three cubs while papa basked in the sun.

After the zoo, we drove downtown for the city's annual food festival to sample small plates from local restaurants and food trucks. Dan's favorite this year was a dac biet Vietnamese sandwich, and mine was the giant cream puff. I was thrilled to find cream puffs at the festival, since I usually only get one during Oktoberfest! I felt like a celebrity carrying this monstrosity around... people just stared as I walked past. I get lots of awed questions like, "What is THAT??" I highly recommend seeking out a fresh giant cream puff if you've never tried one!