Washington DC Trip - Day 4 and 5
Day 4 was a low activity day for us. After feeling like we were going to die from all of the walking the night before, we decided to cut back on the planned activities. We dumped Mt. Vernon, the interactive science museum and the aquarium. I was looking forward to the aquarium the most out of all of them, but I'd rather make sure that we did the zoo.
It was a good decision, since we spent the entire afternoon at the zoo. It was (thankfully) a shortish walk away from the metro stop.
There's not really a heck of a lot I can say about activities here since it was mostly just looking at animals. Memorable creatures included the Maned Wolf, which as we learned, has very, very strong smelling urine which they apparently use to communicate.
We saw a lot of birds as well, especially of the common variety. Squirrels and ducks showed up in force, including where they were least wanted...in a crane's water hole. We saw one crane that looked rather annoyed that they were there.
We also saw an Emu that I could have swore was showing off for the camera. It enjoyed hanging out by the fence with all the people there, striking bird like poses and basking in all of the attention.
One of the more active animals we came across was the Red Panda. This little guy was running and jumping all over the place which was semi surprising since the red panda's at the local zoo just tend to sit there and do nothing.
They had Giant Pandas as well, but I was unable get a really good shot of one because of how far away from the fence they liked to hang out.
Unfortunately, my camera battery died about halfway through the zoo, so I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I would have liked. I was so tired from all the walking that when we got back to the hotel room the past two nights, I forgot to charge it. It's got a pretty good battery life otherwise though, as I found out.
Another camera hiccup...it seemed to enjoy focusing on the cages the animals were in and not on the animals themselves. So I ended up getting an awful lot of pictures of wires and bars with fuzzy animals in the background. Oh well...I know for next time.
Lunch was at the zoo. A little over eight dollars for a Mcdonalds style burger and small fries. I suppose it was going to fund animal conservation though, so that's all right. I bought a little stuffed penguin at the panda gift shop even though they don't have penguins at the zoo (figure that one out) and was teased by my friends for collecting "dolls". Everybody has a hobby! There's nothing wrong with it! NOTHING!
Dinner on Day 4 ended up being at the hotel restaurant which ended up being really, really good for a pretty decent price. After that, it was bedtime since we were leaving pretty early the next day in order for me to be back for the second round Syracuse NIT mens basketball game I wanted to see Monday night.
Cut to the next morning we were all feeling pretty blah. We pack up, and go to load up the car. Tragedy strikes...we left the dome light in the back on when we were unpacking...4 days ago. The battery was dead and the maintenance guys with the jumper cables and battery stuff weren't going to get in for another 20 minutes. We waited back in the hotel lobby. Eventually they arrived, but they weren't the brightest group of people in the universe and it took them about an hour and a half to figure out that they needed to bring their truck around and jump start it that way.
Finally we left and after an almost stop-free ride back home, my friends dropped me off at my parents house and then we left immediatley for the game.
Vacation...complete.
For more day 4 pictures, you can check my flickr account. Click here!
It was a good decision, since we spent the entire afternoon at the zoo. It was (thankfully) a shortish walk away from the metro stop.
There's not really a heck of a lot I can say about activities here since it was mostly just looking at animals. Memorable creatures included the Maned Wolf, which as we learned, has very, very strong smelling urine which they apparently use to communicate.
We also saw an Emu that I could have swore was showing off for the camera. It enjoyed hanging out by the fence with all the people there, striking bird like poses and basking in all of the attention.
They had Giant Pandas as well, but I was unable get a really good shot of one because of how far away from the fence they liked to hang out.
Unfortunately, my camera battery died about halfway through the zoo, so I wasn't able to get as many pictures as I would have liked. I was so tired from all the walking that when we got back to the hotel room the past two nights, I forgot to charge it. It's got a pretty good battery life otherwise though, as I found out.
Another camera hiccup...it seemed to enjoy focusing on the cages the animals were in and not on the animals themselves. So I ended up getting an awful lot of pictures of wires and bars with fuzzy animals in the background. Oh well...I know for next time.
Lunch was at the zoo. A little over eight dollars for a Mcdonalds style burger and small fries. I suppose it was going to fund animal conservation though, so that's all right. I bought a little stuffed penguin at the panda gift shop even though they don't have penguins at the zoo (figure that one out) and was teased by my friends for collecting "dolls". Everybody has a hobby! There's nothing wrong with it! NOTHING!
Dinner on Day 4 ended up being at the hotel restaurant which ended up being really, really good for a pretty decent price. After that, it was bedtime since we were leaving pretty early the next day in order for me to be back for the second round Syracuse NIT mens basketball game I wanted to see Monday night.
Cut to the next morning we were all feeling pretty blah. We pack up, and go to load up the car. Tragedy strikes...we left the dome light in the back on when we were unpacking...4 days ago. The battery was dead and the maintenance guys with the jumper cables and battery stuff weren't going to get in for another 20 minutes. We waited back in the hotel lobby. Eventually they arrived, but they weren't the brightest group of people in the universe and it took them about an hour and a half to figure out that they needed to bring their truck around and jump start it that way.
Finally we left and after an almost stop-free ride back home, my friends dropped me off at my parents house and then we left immediatley for the game.
Vacation...complete.
For more day 4 pictures, you can check my flickr account. Click here!
