New Zoo

September 28, 2006

We awoke to sun just coming above the cloud layer at the horizon. With hot coffee in hand we went out to the shore line and watched as five eagles flew and landed on the beach just within binocular view. The white head, the dark body, the strong legs -The Bald Eagle. One flew and hit the water sending up a spray, but we couldn’t see if it caught himself fish breakfast. We left our coffee cups in the dune grass and walked up to where the eagles sat; they flew off long before we got there. Will went right up on the rocky spit of land to the log they had sat on and saw the scratch marks. A Great Blue Heron had walked in the sand near by and a raccoon had come out to see if the eagles had left him a snack. Kathy cut some yellow and deep brown willow to work with later.

Menominee had internet service so Kathy was able to load another journal entry and do some internet searches. Carmine, thanks for taking the ball on getting our reservations for a sisters trip to Hawaii for Justin’s graduation.

We paused in Marinette trying to see the harbor where the boats come into the river. In the park just across the river was a statue of a wagon loaded with logs.

The New (North Eastern Wisconsin) Zoo was just a short trip west. It was a great little zoo with moose, bobcat, mountain lion, otter, reindeer and best of all the giraffe and lions. The recently added giraffe exhibit brings you up to eye level with these regal creatures. For just two dollars you can feed them! Their long rough tough comes out to grasp the crackers and pull them in through their big soft set of lips. Their long gray tongue comes out searching and wiggles. Their big black eyes with long curling eyelashes watch. The fur is soft to the touch on their massive jaws. As you look down to the hoofs you realize how strong they are. One kick and you would be hurting bad. We watched as the giraffe played with the female lionesses, Piggy and Bony, in the next encampment. The lions crouch ready for their mock attack, the giraffe moves and together they run back and forth a few times. The giraffe stops and nibbles grass he can reach by stretching his tongue out the metal enclosure. The lion crouches again. This time she takes off, but the giraffe just nibbles grass. Later we watched as the lion came alert to the little train that passes their encampment. Again she couches and runs with the train. The carousel has many zoo animals; it is a work of art. The penguins had a nice outdoor exhibit and we watched as below us they flew through the water. The otters had a terraced waterfall set up with a rockslide. He swam back and forth up and around the logs in the water. Like with the giraffe, we were able to stand above the moose and look down on them. It was a different perspective. The walking path bisected the goat pen; the goats got across by an overhead wooden suspension bridge that they used often. We felt like trolls under the Billy Goat Gruff. There were a bakers dozen Macaque, Japanese monkeys, that spent their time pairing off and grooming each other. The Wattled crane danced for us, the red fox that was actually black, the porcupine hiding by the wall,the bob cats and the red wolf were each in their enclosure. While we got to see so many animals we did not get to see others like the Red Panda; some enclosures were empty as far as we could tell.
Buffalo Wild Wings in Green Bay provided us a place to enjoy some trivia and junk food; the BBQ ribs were really good and the popcorn shrimp were yummy. We made our way to the Waldorf for some West Wing and bed. A group of young people use the parking area near where we parked for a social gathering. It ended just after midnight.