Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens

I recently got to experience a Friday afternoon at the Cincinnati Zoo, courtesy of a work outing.  It was the first wonderful, sunny day that we'd experienced in a while and the zoo was absolutely packed.

The zoo seems to be having a lot of problems with their giraffes lately.  One died earlier this year.  The new baby giraffe has a broken leg.  Wonder whats causing the problems?

We got to see this Rhino two ways.  Standing here catching some sun rays, and again in a swimming pool later.  If I hadn't known better, I'd have thought he was a hippo :)

It was a great day for a swim at the zoo.  This polar bear was doing backstroke laps in his swimming pool.

Wish there wasn't a window in the way here!  I wanted to swing around too.

Baby Bonobo Monkeys.  You know what they say about bonobos. 

The zoo had a lot of volunteers outside holding animals that you could touch.  I don't remember them doing things like that when I was little.  I tried to pose with a bunch of them.  Wouldn't it be odd to realize that you are in pictures with a whole lot of people?

What's also cool is when you know somebody who knows somebody and you get to meet an elephant up close.

This is me with Mai Tai. 

And a boa constrictor

No visits to the alligator or crocodiles though

The gorillas were awesome.  There was a zoo keeper giving a presentation and he was throwing pieces of fruit to them.  They were pretty good at catching, too.

Don't worry, folks, I've got this situation under control.

My guess is that this peacock was not showing its feathers on demand...I'm thinking it was probably getting ready to stab someone's eye out...

Maifest

I braved the rainy weekend to check out Maifest in Main Strasse.  It was still fun, even though it was drizzly.

Check out this giant mettwurst with sauerkraut!

In other news, summer semester at Xavier has officially started.  My nose is back on the grindstone.  When I'm not dancing in the rain with my umbrella. ella. ella. of course.

Or...taking night vision goggles to steal other peoples chicken tenders.

I didn't actually eat any of his chicken tenders though. 

Later, we split a cream puff.  There was only one vendor selling them...and they were not delicious.  I was sadly disappointed and we tossed it out.  :(  Maifest fail.  Oktoberfest, bring it on!