Yesterday AM and I were a bit bored, so we decided to go to the Phoenix Zoo. I'd been told it was a pretty good city zoo (obviously not on par with San Diego), but still not that bad. We left about 10:30 to go get some sandwiches at AJ's for a picnic, then headed over to the zoo.
When we got there, the parking lot was almost completely full. This shouldn't have been a surprise to us, since the weather was rather nice in the morning (forecast high in the 80's). After about 15 minutes we did find a parking place off of the main lot, which turned out to be not that far from the zoo entrance (probably about 1/4 - 1/2 mile, which isn't that bad). So, after putting on sunscreen, it was off to the entrance.
On the way in, I realized that I had (yet again) forgotten my hat at home. Since I burn rather easily, I decided to get a new one. $10 for a hat is a little on the steep side, but it was better than going home to get my normal hat. Plus, I was able to get a wider-brimmed hat, which should help while hiking this summer.
Once inside, we started off by having our picnic. I really do like the sandwiches at AJ's. They are a little on the expensive side, but they are very tasty. AM had a sandwich called "The AJ", which has chicken, lettuce, tomato, onion, cilantro, and a red chili mustard. I had a "Bavarian Rueben", which has ham, gouda, caramelized onions, and a thick apple spread (obviously not a real Rueben).
After lunch, we started heading around the park. For a smaller zoo, they actually have a surprising variety of animals. They didn't have too many of the unusual animals, but they did have Speak, a Capybara from The Tick. Very weird looking rodent. It looks like a cross between a hamster and a medium-large dog. Some of their posturing is also very dog like (or at least Suzy like).
I did manage to get some rather interesting shots with my camera. I wouldn't consider them my best, and it is definitely cheating (you don't really have to look that hard to find these animals or get close enough for a good picture), but some of them are rather cool. I really liked a couple of shots of some of the birds because of how absolutely vivid the colors are.
I did get a good shot of a spider monkey. I really wish that AM had a camera with her as well (even a simple point-and-shoot), because while I was trying to get a good shot of one of the spider monkeys, I was completely oblivious to another spider monkey that was on a rope DIRECTLY over my head. It would have been a very good shot capturing irony. I may get her a simple camera at some point in the future just because of this.
I also managed to get a really good shot of an orangoutang with her baby. She was holding her baby just like a human mother would. The behavior was so human it was cute, but weird. Now, the cuteness left a couple of seconds later when she decided to relieve herself by taking a leak directly on the male orangoutang below her. The really disturbing part of that was that the male adjusted his position so it was hitting his face.
One of the more amusing things we saw toward the end of the day was your everyday variety house cat. It wasn't in a cage or pen, just stalking through the bushes in the main part of the part. I unfortunately missed getting a shot of it pouncing, though I did get it while it was ready to pounce. Apparently it was after a rather large lizard (12-18 inches), and did manage to catch it. The cat then proceeded to devour the lizard in less then 2 minutes.