To the Zoo and Back

Hello All!

Happy Labor Day! I hope everybody is doing well.

Kristin and I had a (relatively) uneventful week this past week, so we decided to spice it up a bit over the weekend. Now we only took one bike down to Waco with us, so on Friday night we went out to the local Sports Authority. We figured they'd have a better quality bike than, say, Walmart. Of course, most of the bikes were in the $ 300 to $500 area, but we found a bargain bike for Kristin for under $200.

Anywho, with the addition of a 2nd bicycle to our family, we were able to get out and see some more of our new city. There is a lovely paved path that runs along the Brazos River that stretches from Baylor campus to the downtown area. From there we were only a few blocks from Cameron Park. The park is quite extensive and has Mountain Biking paths, walking trails, and Frisbee Golf, but the biggest attraction at the park is the Zoo.

Cameron Park Zoo has to be the best small town Zoo I have ever seen. I don't think its as large as the Minnesota Zoo, but I think it definitely tops the Como Zoo. K and I paid $7 each to get in, and I think we must have spent three or four hours looking at all of the exhibits. The zoo was basically a large circle, so you couldn't really choose your own path, but we hardly noticed because the exhibits were laid out in a very logical progression. There was quite a bit of shade throughout the park, and there were a number of in-doors exhibits along the way that helped keep us cool.

So what did we see? Well, the basics: Big Cats, Giraffes, Rhinos, Turtles (actually a Snapping Turtle that looked like he could snap my Femur in half...), Fish, Snakes, Birds and an Orangutan. They didn't really have any aquatic mammals, but it wasn't a let down, by any means. We did get to get a good look at a number of Snakes that we hope to never encounter while here in Texas...

We kept seeing words like "Venomous" and "American Southwest" on quite a few more windows that I'd have hoped for.

In any case, we had a good time out at the zoo and in Cameron Park, but we were a bit sore getting back on our bicycles for the ride home. However, the startings of a rain storm were in the air, and that helped us to tap our zeal and find some endurance to bike the three miles home :)

I hope you all have a lovely Labor Day Weekend!

DJC