A Sunny Saturday

On our most recent trip to the library this week, T and I scored a major surprise. Our library system has a program called the Museum Adventure Pass which allows you to "check out" passes which gain you 2-4 free admissions to a variety of museums in the metro. Each museum has its own pass and there are a limited number available. The display for the program is near the circulation desk so I always glance at it when we come in. We've been hoping for quite some time to see a MN Zoo pass sitting in its designated slot but, alas, this little box is always empty. I've never, NOT ONCE, seen a pass in it. That is, until Thursday when, to my great delight, my eyes spotted the prize. Even though T had just been at the zoo the day before with Miss Tricia, I was not about to let this rare opportunity pass us by. So, we checked out the pass, along with several books and a couple of movies, and went on our merry way. Michael said that he would like to join us on our adventure, so we saved the pass until today. T was quite excited and joined me in singing "We're Going To The Zoo, Zoo, Zoo" pretty much the entire way there. Our first stop was The Tropics where we saw a variety of warm weather creatures. T thought this slumbering flamingo was particularly silly.He also enjoyed watching the lemurs and the tree kangaroos.
After leaving The Tropics, we headed over to Discovery Bay. Although he didn't fall into any tide pools, T did get quite excited about seeing real live starfish.He also enjoyed the dolphin tank (even though there are no shows right now while the staff train their two new dolphins), the shark tank and a variety of other aquatic life. After a ride on the monorail, we ventured outside on the Northern Trail, hoping to get a closer glimpse at one of T's recent animal favorites, the tigers.Our trip did not disappoint. When we arrived at the Tiger Lair, we were quite surprised to see two of the tigers up closeand personal.During our more frequent summer trips to the zoo, we have never seen the tigers come this close to the glass. But today, they were particularly fond of this spot. They seemed to enjoy sunning themselves on the stone. T was quite impressed! I told him this was probably as close to a tiger as he would ever get.....I hope I am right :)

Fair Market Value of our morning adventure = $40 ($14 each for adult admission, $5 for parking and 2 tickets at $3.50 each for the ride on the monorail). Actual cost = $12. I love a good deal!