The Minnesota Zoo

Yesterday Mr. Scottie Dog asked if I wanted the pictures from his camera of our holiday trip to Minnesota. I didn't know we had any more pictures but I thought you might like to see these.
When we first arrived at the zoo we went into the Aquatic Hall. In the center of the Hall is a large pool with small sharks, fish, sea anemone and more. The kids love to roll up their sleeves and get wet ....probably their favorite part. Here's Jakob in the center of the picture.

They had tanks that were huge---room sized with fish bigger than medium-sized children, I thought the hammer-head shark was especially interesting. But I have to tell you that the most facinating creatures of all in the Aquatic Wing were the Sea Horses! They had a tank about 6 feet wide and 8 feet tall with these guys in it. Many different sizes and varieties, colors. They curl and uncurl their tails and climb up the coral and sticks in their tanks.

After seeing all the aquatic life and drying off, we decided to go see the newest exhibit at the zoo, finished last summer. Of course the Russian Grizzly exhibit was OUTDOORS! Remember this is Minnesota. In Winter. Ten Degrees BELOW zero!

So we pulled on the coats, hats, scarves and opened the doors....The blast was frigid. But we persevered and it was fun...not our usual experience at our local Sequoia Park Zoo. Here's what it looked like. Bill, Jakob, Mercedes & I. Beka took this picture.

Russia doesn't have Grizzly Bears... These brown bears were hibernating. We learned that they don't actually go into the deep sleep we've always been taught, but they were constantly moving a bit....licking a paw, scratching an ear and looking right at us. Only a 1" pane of glass separated them from us. I was really impressed. We also saw a snow leopard up close, some foxes, wild boar and more. After about a half an hour we couldn't stand the cold any more so we went back inside. My fingers were beginning to sting and Bill said his feet were getting numb.

We ate lunch in their food court; it was like at a Mall. They had a Pizza place, a burger grill, a Chinese place, salads & sandwiches and an Ice cream joint. Amazing. Then we went to the Rainforest. Several acres INSIDE. At the entrance there was this quilt hanging from the ceiling. It was two sided and had blocks made from Tshirts from zoos all over the USA. It was fun to look at. All in all, we had a blast.