go hike a mountain

We awoke later than normal this morning and drove the last few miles into Washington, D.C. I had read in a guide about the National Zoo which is free to the public and just north of the D.C. downtown area. You only have to pay for parking or take a bus in from the city. We figured there wouldn’t be much to see for a free zoo, but we ended up spending the whole day there. Here are all the animals we saw.

I think the panda is scratching his butt on the wall here.

This is some sort of pheasant we saw in the bird building. He was chasing a female and spreading out his feathers in some sort of mating dance. You can just make out what he looks like with all of his feathers splayed in that third photograph, but he was moving so fast it was hard to take his picture besides through that tree.

These are a pair of birds that are closely related to pigeons.

This is a cassowary. It has a crest on its head that looks like a tooth and has mixed discussions about its purpose (aid in communication, protection, etc.)

The park is full of cherry blossom and magnolia trees.

Here is a yawning meerkat. I think its head looks an awful lot like my mom’s dog Sheila.

We left the zoo and headed straight for the hotel. After checking in, we showered and planned to walk around a little to find dinner and something to do for the evening. The hotel happened to be a couple of block north of the Verizon Center where the Washington Wizards play and when we walked passed it, we realized the Ringling Bros. & Barnum & Bailey Circus was in town.

We bought tickets but had a couple of hours to kill before the show so we walked around a bit.

We also happened to catch the weekend of the cherry blossom festival, so they were in full bloom.

When we approached the White House we noticed the road in front of it was being blocked off by a mounted police man. We stood around waiting to see what was going on and within about 5 minutes we could hear helicopters approaching in the distance. There were 3 and when they got close enough, one went and landed in the White House yard and the other two turned away and went back.

We found out later President Bush had been throwing an opening pitch at a baseball game. They still hadn’t opened the street up for a while, so we left to check out the Washington Memorial. It was really windy on the hill.

We realized it was close to time for the circus, so we started walking back toward the Verizon Center.

I had to stop for a McDonald’s ice cream cone. They sure do make ‘em big in D.C.

The circus was a lot of fun. There were a number of times that there were so many things happening in front of us we weren’t sure what to watch.

Stacked elephants? Pretty impressive. We saw so much and had such a full day we were ready for some good sleep.