"we're going to the zoo, zoo, zoo" , PAC NW 5/12

After a long day driving the day before, we all slept in.  We finally got ready to head out and see Portland about noon!  Doug, Kristi and their boys Nick & Ryan  escorted us to the Portland Zoo.  The weather was bright & sunny so I think that most of the city and surrounding areas also decided to attend the zoo that day as well.    Doug was surprisingly calm, cool and collected as we looked for a spot in 3 different parking lots for almost 30 minutes.  Once we got our spot we headed in to the zoo and had a fabulous day.

We really enjoyed watching the sea lion swim around his tank.

 

We had the opportunity to ride the train, which showed us only 2 animals in the entire zoo, but we did ride the train, in 2 completely separate, but equal cars.

 

The kids all loved to go on a motion simulation ride, but all the adults knew better.  We sat in the shade and talked, made Doug red with embarrassment and then giggled some more.  When the kids got off the ride they were giddy with excitement.  They all loved it, bu I am still not sure if they loved it more than we loved our kid free time and conversations!

 

The zoo is home to several elephants, which we took special note of for Raelynn.

We also were able to watch some real lions from this jeep, after the boys climbed all over the hot metal ones.

I was super excited to see a real live hippo, out of the water.  We also were able to watch one swim around in the water.  That was pretty cool.

A few of the animals looked a bit thin, but we all still enjoyed watching them play.

Derek's favorite were the salmon.

And of course the Eagles for Grumpaw.

I think that he would prefer the basket below full of eagles, so I hope that they all get busy!

 

After a long, sunny afternoon we were all ready to head for the car, get some dinner and then pick up Randi and Blip from the airport!  Again, Doug amazed me as he drive through nasty rush hour traffic, without an inappropriate word or gesture.  That is more than unbelievable if you have never been in Portland's rush hour.  It blows!

We ended up eating w yummy dinner at Red Robin and then Saint Doug took all the boys home to get ready for bed while the girls went to the airport to get Randi & son.