Thursday, July 10, 2008

The Zoo!

I think I've only been to the zoo a handful of times in my entire life. Somehow, I managed to make two trips to the zoo in one week. Because I made a trip to both the Woodland Park zoo in Seattle and the Washington Park zoo in Portland during that week, I am now able to provide a thorough analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of both zoos. Let's see which zoo comes out on top:

First off, the Seattle zoo is cleaner, more educational, has a greater variety of animals, (all of which seem to be more active and happy), and the zoo has a more convenient layout. Most importantly, however, the Seattle zoo allows you to not only view animals, but to impersonate them as well:

Here I'm a spider, facing troubles with the law for "prowling."

And look! Mike has developed into a beautiful butterfly!

And here I am as a zebra. Cute, right?


While the Portland zoo is smaller, dirtier, and honestly less fun, it does have two reedeming qualities:

1) MEERKATS!!!!

2) One thing that the Portland zoo will have more often than the Seattle zoo is Keyton. He makes the zoo more entertaining than all the tigers, monkeys, or hippos combined. Here is Keety feeding the lorakeets with his grandma Banana. (Note: this is also one of maybe 3 picture in existence where my mom looks normal.)

Here is Keety using the skills he picked up with the lorakeets, attempting to feed the penguins through the glass. What a guy!

Another great thing about the Portland zoo, and I think Keety will agree, is the petting zoo. Keyton was happier chasing these goats around than he was viewing the "zebahs," which, by the way, was what he seemed to be looking forward to all day.


In the end, the Portland zoo obviously comes out on top thanks only to Keyton's ability to take your mind off of the fact that you are viewing wild animals trapped in concrete cages that are too small for them and that smell like poop. Oh, and the meerkats don't hurt, either.