Zoofari

Thursday already? This week is flyin' by. Just one week closer to freedom. It probably helps that I have two huge furballs taking up all of my attention this week.

I spent yesterday morning exploring the National Zoo. My mom bought her & I a membership last year that expires at the end of June, and with that membership comes free parking - so I wanted to take advantage of the one definitely sunny day while I was home this week. Whenever I go to the zoo, I spend most of my time feeling terrible for the animals - how unhappy many of them probably are, how horrible humans are for continuing to destroy their habitats, how many of these species might be extinct within our lifetimes or the next.

But, I still love watching when they do adorable things like this:

Tai Shan

 And when they scratch themselves on rocks because they are itchy:

Mei Xong

 And when there is a whole family of otters named after foods (think Radish, Chowder, Rutabaga, Pickles... and Kevin. Love animal Kevins!):

And when there are elephants getting pedicures with gigantic nail files:

Come on girl, I know you have treats somewhere in there

 And when orangutans are actually climbing on the O Line:

The weather was fairly cool for the majority of my visit, so I enjoyed wandering around {and avoiding the hundreds of school children} for a couple of hours. Though my hip did not.

After lunch, I was able to meet up for lunch with my bestie JG, who lives and works in DC. While my parents live "close" to DC, it is always a big production to get into the city, so I don't do it often {though I should}. So it was wonderful to be able to see her while I was in the city.

We went to a restaurant called Chef Geoff's, which is located very close to American University. They had plenty of indoor and outdoor seating, and while we chose to sit inside to take advantage of the all-day happy hour special, the outdoor area looked like a wonderful place to enjoy a few drinks after work.

{source}

I enjoyed a "Straight Up" pizza, which was a modified margherita pizza, and JG had the Bistro Burger - cheddar, monterey jack, bacon, lettuce, and tomato. We supplemented with kiwi-melon sangria and Shocktop Belgian White.

A delicious end {mid-point?} to a lovely day!

Question of the Day:

What is your favorite animal to see at the zoo?