We stopped by the flamingoes, otters, lemurs, and tortoises before we walked through Australia. We actually ran into Chad, the curator (which means he oversees all the animals in the zoo) before we headed in and he recognized seeing me around for Summer Safari. I told him I was here showing my professor around today. "Ah, earning some extra points are ya?" haha Australia looks really good. We saw the wallabies and emus out and about (they're free roaming in the Australia area). There's also a group of kookaburras, a black swan, a cassowary, some lories and lorikeets, and an aviary with some pigeons and parrots. I learned that Dr. Heyborne has an interest in doves and pigeons today thanks to this zoo tour we did together.
Dr. H also said the cassowary is one of his favorite animals because they are so different. This isn't the best photo of it, but I'll see if I can get a better one before the end of th esummer.
We also enjoyed the cultural things going on in the area. There was even a guy playing a didgeridoo today for the grand opening. Dr. H said he'd never seen a tunable didgeridoo before. There's a little area replicating an Australin "station", which is a big farm. Lots of fun informational signs throughout the exhibit, as well.
Then, we stopped by the Magellan penguins, petting zoo, camels, lions, and tigers. As we walked through the petting zoo, Dr. H spotted Stacie Hays, who happens to be our career counselor at Morningside. I've talked with her a few times about some
Obviously Dr. H was telling me interesting things he knew about the different animals that I didn't know, but when we got to the ostriches on the African Boardwalk, I asked him which one was the male. He answered easily the darker one. Then, I asked him why the darker feathers are beneficial for the male.... He looked at me like "what do you mean?" I explained that I had been told that the males guard the eggs at night and the females during the day - the brown helps the females blend in with the savannah around her during the day, and the black helps the males blend into the night. "Huh," he said, "I'd never heard that before, but it makes sense. You stumped me with that one." :-) So, I took a picture of the male ostrich so I'd remember this moment. haha
After Africa, we stopped by the Japanese Macaques and the temporary dinosaur exhibit. I told him that hte kids love it, but I'm kind of over the dinosaurs myself. haha He agreed that his son would be all over this dinosaur exhibit. Then, we headed back toward the Service Building, where I found Cristina. I had mentioned to her on Thursday that my professor was coming and asked if she'd give us the tour of the education animals. Dr. H was giddy as a school bou, while we were in here. (When, I think about it I kind of recall describing him with those exact words in my journal from our trip to Ecuador...)
First, Cristina showed us the reptiles and amphibians, and she let him hold and touch quite a few. He told Cristina that he's a herpetologist by study, so he loves reptiles. Here is with the tiny fox snake:
He also held the retired hedgehog, the huge tiger salamander, and the bearded dragon. I told Cristina about how the first time I saw her do an animal presentation how it reminded me of the outreach program Dr. H had started back at Morningside. She knew where Morningside was and thought it was cool that I had gotten to do some of that already. Then, she showed us the 5 year old American alligator in a different room. We also saw Amboro (the blue and gold macaw), the duck, chicken, rabbits, and ferrets. Dr. H kept saying how he grew up with these sorts of animals. We also saw the screech owl and she even let him touch the porcupine. That was a pretty cool experience for me the time I got to do that when our boss Daniela took us back here.
Then Cristina said I could show him the birds that were on the outside part of the building as well - the red-tailed hawk and the vultures. Ann, the director of operations, saw us up there and said she was almost ready to yell at us til she realized it was me. haha Said she didn't recognize me at first without my red Summer Safari shirt on. haha We also saw Ann when were down in the Australia exhibit.
Finally, Dr. H and I walked through the Discovery Center, one of my favorite parts. When we got to the sloth, I told him about the 1st and 2nd grade camp week on "Grossology"... one fun fact my friends learned about sloths in addition to only defecating about once every ten days, the feces can way up to 3 pounds in one setting.
As we walked through, Dr. H had his eye out for the Mauritius Pink Pigeon, which he said are a very rare species now. He finally spotted one at the bottom near the scarlet macaw exhibit. When we stopped by the poison dart frogs, he mentioned that these were some of his wife's favorite animals.
I also took him up to the room where my class meets for camp, and then as we were heading out we ran into Ann again, and I asked her to take a picture of us for me.
Ann asked if we wanted to go feed the parakeets, so she took Dr. H and I to the Budgie Bog In, where we fed the parakeets. She also told us about some different things, which was cool. I'm glad we ran into her. I also told Dr. H how Ann was a camp counselor for two summers when she was my age and now look what she does. Cool stuff :-)
It may have been hot and humid out, but still a mighty fine trip to the zoo I do believe. It was really fun to walk around where I've been working all summer with Dr. Heyborne, my mentor and share some experiences with him and learn some more things, as well. I loved seeing him having almost too much fun with the education animals. :-)
Then, we headed to Tasty Tacos for lunch; he'd never been to one, and he said it was really good. This was only my second time here. It was also nice to chat with him in person one more time before he moves to Utah. At one point he said, he could tell that I've made some really great connections with workers throughout the zoo.I told him I'll definitely be staying in touch and plan on grabbing Matt and Kyle to come visit him with me sometime. I'm so thankful for getting to know him and having him as a professor and my advisor while at Morningside, and I'm really glad he came to visit me. When he first showed up, I thought, "Ahhh you're really here." :-)
After Dr. H left I headed to West Des Moines for some raw almonds and banana chips from Trader Joe's. I also decided to walk around the Jordan Creek mall for a while just for fun, no clothes shopping... although I did pick up a few books from the bargain racks in Barnes and Noble.
I went and saw Harry Potter Saturday night. Wasn't sure exactly when I'd go see it, but the opportunity presented itself so I went. Here I am with my Harry Potter 3D glasses. I thought it was the most hilarious thing that they gave us Potter glasses, not just regular 3D glasses.
Thanks to my chat with Dr H. on Saturday, he told me I should go check out Ledges State Park by Boone, IA sometime. I mentioned it to my roommate, and she said it was beautiful up there and that she would go with me. She also suggested we ride the authentic 20's train while we were up that way. So, we headed to Boone Sunday morning. We bought our train tickets at the station and decided to go grab some lunch. When I searched restaurants on my GPS, a few sounded fun - the Whistle Stop Cafe and the Gigglin' Goat. We headed toward the Whistle Stop to find it closed so we headed South...
...and we got stopped by a train.
Then, once we finally reached the end of the train, here came another one from the opposite direction... so we waited more only a few blocks away from the Gigglin' Goat...
... but, we made it.
Here's our the looking table we sat at.
Looked around a bit in the museum area and gift shop before boarding the train.
Here we go! It was a fun ride. I know I rode on one like this with my family when I was maybe somewhere 4-7 years old.
This is crossing over "High Bridge". It is 156 feet from the train to the top of the water in the creek down there.
Next, we headed to Ledges State Park on this hot Sunday afternoon. So glad Dr. H mentioned it to me, or I may never have realized it was here. We hiked down to the canyon.
We also walked up the creek for a while.
Such a calm and relaxing area. It would be beyond amazing to live close to some place like this that I can just go walk around whenever I want.
Hiking is one of my favorite things to do. I love to just go on walks through the trees and hills whenever I need to burn off some energy, get my mind off things, or just chill for a while.
These steps that we hiked down, and then back up made me think of Indiana Jones and all the booby traps.
Used the timer on my camera to get a photo of Averee and I after our hike back up.
One great adventurous weekend!
No comments:
Post a Comment