First off, we just got home from a hike so hard that it's difficult for me to even type right now (wait...that might be my recovery booze) anyway, apologies if today's edition is lackluster. I'm hurting!
By the time Sunday rolled around it was time for our guests to go home. Peter's flight was in the morning so we all got up and took him to the airport. When we opened the garage door, look what we found in the backyard!!
Yes! TWIN baby moose! I was dying with all the cuteness!
Mama (who is extremely big and healthy for just having had twins) checked us out but didn't get too upset. She was okay with us taking pictures as long as we stayed back.
TOO CUTE!
After dropping Peter at the airport, we headed out to Westchester Lagoon to let Ripley take a little swim. He was happy with this decision.
Thankfully there were few bugs and lots of water and birds. Basically Ripley's dream.
Wait, the only thing that could make it better was a dead bird for him to roll in. CHECK!
While we walked around we found a tree full of baby magpies! You can tell they're babies because they don't have long tail feathers. They were adorable....and loud, like all magpies are.
After letting Ripley swim his little heart out, Linda asked if we could go to the zoo. Since it's only a mile from our house, it was a perfect little afternoon trip. And! Dave was free because it was father's day. Good deal!
The Anchorage Zoo is actually really fun, but it's not like a typical zoo. Almost all of the animals are either native to Alaska or native to similar climates. This way, you don't really feel bad for the tropical animals standing around in the snow. It wasn't always like this - the zoo used to have an elephant! Her name was Annabelle and she used to paint. She also has a great story. It's basically like the episode of the Simpsons where Bart gets the elephant. A local guy in Anchorage won a paper-selling contest and the choice of prizes was $2,000 or an elephant. Of course, the elephant was kind of a joke, but he chose the elephant. The paper company paid up and the zoo was born. No elephants now, though. Almost all of the animals in the Alaska Zoo are there because they were orphaned or found injured. It's pretty much just a really nice wildlife rehab facility.
Polar Bear (too hot!)
Red foxes (much prettier live than made into coats or earmuffs. Didja hear that, fur rondy people?!)
They even have moose. These ones don't have to worry about cars or bears, which makes me happy.
They also have really pretty gardens. Since it's right by the house, it's a good place to see what grows well in Anchorage.
We headed over to the nursery where we saw baby moose!
And baby deer! (they don't have deer in Anchorage, but they do in SE Alaska).
They have a whole pack of wolves. They look just like Ripley, don't they?
Tigers! These tigers are cold-climate tigers and are really beautiful.
Yak!
The next two are dall sheep and/or mountain goats. Couldn't tell you the difference.
This was one of the best things we saw all day. This bear is livin' large.
They also have black bears. MUCH bigger than the ones that stop by our house. (If we saw bears this big at our house I'd probably never let Ripley outside again).
They even have double-humped camels! These kind are native to cold climates, unlike the single-humpers that live in the desert.
This is also an amazing picture. The otters know how to relax. I think they took a tip from the grizzly.
After the zoo we just hung out until Dave and Linda had to head out that night. It was a truly fantastic trip and we're so glad you came to visit. Come back anytime Naylors!
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