On Martin Luther King Day, my daughter participated in the service day at her elementary school. Watching her get ready, so revved-up to pitch in and keep her school looking spiffy, made me puff with pride…But not enough to change out of my pjs. I let her dad take her and stayed home with the little one.
A few hours later, they returned triumphant. Apparently, once they arrived the work party actually started working. My daughter and husband raked more leaves than anybody, and had a lot of fun doing it. They raked alongside a classmate that happened to have 2 extra tickets to the zoo. Thus, a plan was hatched. After lunch, we would meet up at the inner gate…
They are all orange!
On a side note:
a package of Mott’s Medley fruit snacks was opened on the way over.
Just feast your eyes on this:
Unfortunately we took the longest route possible. I vaguely remember Division, Laurelhurst Park, Burnside? It was a long, slow ride through SE, but we eventually made it through the wilderness. 
We waited around for awhile, hoping to see our friends, but we had missed them. We were a little late.
A little late and very disappointed.
The weather was unseasonably bright and warm. Most of the animals were in good humor and happily making a spectacle of themselves.
FINALLY, we ran into our friends!
We saw a few more exhibits with them, but they couldn’t stay much longer.
We said good-bye at these strange tusked pigs, and continued on…but in a much better mood.
We hit up the polar bears next.
One polar bear was snoozing. The other seemed to be resting beside the water’s edge, but then lazily began playing with something that looked like a row of seats from an airplane. I doubt that is what it was, but my eyes don’t work as well as I’d like, so that is what they saw.
We also got a chance to see the new California condor exhibit. The last time we visited, it was still under construction.
California condor
When a condor spreads it’s wings like this, it is announcing its dominance. These birds are enormous! We happened to arrive at feeding time.
They are given an entire calf to devour.
Beside the condors, there is a compact but comfortable cougar exhibit. We snuck up on them while they were napping and found a zookeeper chatting about the cats to a small crowd.
Suddenly, the sound or smell of the calf munching aroused one wildcat’s interest. She tried to break into the condor exhibit, but she couldn’t find a way in, and gave up.
Cougar attempted to crossover.
On the way out, we passed another totem pole, tried to solve the animal track mystery, and said goodbye to the Rocky Mountain goats.
The Oregon Zoo is currently under construction. They are expanding the elephant habitat, and I couldn’t be more pleased. However, the constant grind of machinery often makes the animals cranky. We were fortunate to see them in such high spirits, despite the noise and chaos. You never know how it will be until you get there.
TOTEM!
Rainbot 
