Visit to the Pittsburgh Zoo

J.R. and I decided to spend last Saturday morning at the Pittsburgh Zoo.  I have to admit that I sometimes feel weird visiting zoos without children in tow, but I LOVE animals and our mutual interest always seems to land J.R. and I at the zoos in each of the cities we have lived in at least once a year.  I had the brilliant idea of going as soon as the gates open to avoid the "zoo of people" that would inevitably be visitors on a Saturday, so we got ourselves up and made it there a few minutes before 9am.  We realized shortly after that although I had read on the website that the zoo opened at 9, there were signs indicating that those gates weren't moving until 9:30.  Apparently, several other people had the same brilliant idea, as they began showing up to join us.  At least we could entertain ourselves with some people watching while we waited!

I was especially intrigued by several Amish families that stood in line next to us.  There were several small girls attending with their parents, all dressed in the same green and grey dresses, hats, black stockings and boots.  I felt admiration for them as it was already getting hot, and they seemed so calm and content.  The Amish culture is present everywhere here, and I would really like the opportunity to learn more about them in the future.

Anyhow, they finally opened the gates and J.R. and I rushed to the end of the park for the polar bear exhibit.  We both agreed it was well worth our admission ticket!  They have a circular viewing tank that you sometimes encounter in big aquariums, allowing you to view sharks and fish with the perspective of almost being in the water with them.  We had never heard of this being available for polar bear viewing, so we were pretty excited.  We arrived right before his first feeding and were even able to see him play before he retreated to the shady part of his habitat for a lazy day.

While we were waiting on his appearance, we played a little:).  The sun shining through the water in the tank made a beautiful reflection and the lighting was gorgeous (keep in mind these pictures were taken under plexiglass? so they are a little blue).

 

The polar bear finally dove into the tank and it was incredible!

Here are a few of the other exhibits we visited.  We hadn't planned for this, but it was actually "Baby Day" at the zoo so the baby animals were out in full force...so cute!!!!