Albuquerque Zoo - Oct 2005

Growing up in San Diego was great and going to the zoo was by far one of my favorite things to do. On any given day, my Grandma would fill a grocery bag with fruits, veggies and marshmallows and off we would go to feed the animals. (Of course, that was back in the good old days when fun things like that were still legal.) Anyway, ever since then I've loved animals and find great pleasure in being able to go to the zoo and see so many of them up close and personal. Where else would I ever get the experience of being a few feet from a giant polar bear without one (or both) of us being scared out of our wits.

The Albuquerque Zoo was delightful -- small enough to enjoy it all in a few hours, attractive animal enclosures, nice landscaping and a good assortment of animals. The apes were my favorites -- so fascinating as their behaviors and expressions were so similar to our own. This little baby gorilla was adorable and he was going through all kinds of gyrations trying to get his mother's attention. She was too busy eating to pay him much mind.

This gorilla fascinated us -- he was holding a wad of newspaper in his right hand and he appeared to be reading the daily news -- deep in concentration. Every so often, he'd raise the paper, give it a shake and then resume this position. We wondered which of his zookeepers he was mimicking.

Sea Lions in Albuquerque? You bet and this one was totally content basking in the desert sunshine. Every now and then he'd raise and lower his front flipper as if waving at us. Since he was also snoring, we wondered what he was dreaming about.

Can you see the baby giraffe? There were lots of baby animals at the zoo and we had fun trying to SPOT them (pun intended!)