The Zoo

Salt Lake City

Hello,

Yesterday was free day at the zoo so we all piled into the car, except for Andy who was working, poor guy. At the zoo was a brisk 40 degrees with a wind blowing. Or maybe it was colder because the waterfall had big chunks of ice in it. What Leroy and I did not realize was that we would be quite a bit higher so it would be colder than it was at Miriam’s house. We did not wear winter coats, but jackets. Luckily we had on warm sweatshirts and we had gloves, not the warmest, but gloves.

This second zoo that we have been to in about a month’s time was also good. Because we were not traveling with a group of three and four year olds, but only two of them, we could cover much more territory.

I was impressed with the viewing set up for the porcupine. You could see it up much closer if you desired by going in a “cave” that was the home for various animal species who are active in darkness. In the top of this cave there were six openings of various heights that went into the porcupine home. They were safely topped with glass tubes.

When we visited Sarah and Stephen in Kenya we went on safari. It is so different to see these animals in captivity. It brought back some of the amazing sights that we saw such as two cheetahs feeding on an ostrich. Our guide told us he had not seen a cheetah in years so we were quite privileged to see that. Then at another time a mother elephant came quite close to our stopped vehicle. In a few minutes her baby came up and started nursing on the side that was closest to us. That was quite an unusual occurrence as well. We have been blessed in more ways than we can count. Who would have thought that a little Illinois farm girl would travel to such faraway places to see things she did not dream about?

Paula