For Valentine's Day, I decided to give The Shadow Lady the 'day off'. She went to spend the day with her sisters visiting her dad, and I had fun with the little guy. I've been working a lot lately, and she's really been a trooper... so for me it was a win-win -- I get to give her a much-needed break, and spend some time with the Tadpole... everyone wins! =] One of the things we did was go to the Cougar Mountain Zoo, in Issaquah.

The Main Gate
I was pretty impressed by the main gate. Every thing I'd heard about the zoo indicated that it was a small, low budget place... but the entrance seemed to contradict that. The whole zoo, actually, was pretty nice, I thought anyway.

Tigers!
The zoo is home to two tigers, both 21 months old, and not fully grown. They were pretty impressive! Unfortunatly, all's I had was my cell phone camera... but still, it did a decent job, I just couldn't zoom.

Kitty!
When he noticed the tigers, he pointed and said 'Kitty!' It made me smile... he was pretty fascinated by them.

A big cat
One of them walked up near the fence... he's a VERY big cat!

Lemurs
These guys made a HUGE Racket! They seemed to be mad at each other for some reason, and would get into these shouting contests. It was pretty entertaining to watch.

Emus
The zoo has several big birds, including a gaggle of emu's. It was fun to watch the little guy make the 'bird' sign and say 'bird'.

Birdy!
They were pretty interested in my phone... =]

Cranes
They have several different types of cranes... some of them were pretty impressive looking.

The Deer
By far, his favorite animal at the zoo was the Mule Deer. I bought some treats from a vending station, and the little guy fed them to the deer... he had a BLAST!

New Friends
He didn't want to leave! He'd follow the deer along the fence, trying to stay close to him.

Feeding the deer
At one point, he dropped the treat he was trying to give to the deer, and quickly retrieved it. When he was actually handing the treat over, I was helping to make sure he held his hand flat, and couldn't get a picture... so I took this opportunity. =]

Looking for more
Once we ran out of treats, he checked and rechecked the sidewalk for more... it was fun to watch

ROCKS!
It was tough distracting him from the deer so we could move on. That is, until he discoverd the gravel road... He LOVES rocks!

Ghetto Bird
This bird looked like it had been attacked by graffiti artists... very oddly colored!

Not a happy camper
This parrot seemed upset with his roost, and was tearing it apart.

Hi!
The little guy said 'hi' and waved to this bird, and to my surprise, the bird seemed to wave back!

Mountain Lion
The zoo's bigest exhibit is the Mountain Lion pen... pretty impressive animal! Apparently, its fairly old, and plans are in place to put two younger cubs in the pen once he passes

Sitting on the Camel
He saw another kid ont he camel, so once she cleared off, he wanted a turn... he had a good time!

Heading out for another animal to sit on
After a bit he climbed off, and made a bee-line for more animals to conquer...

Wore out
As we headed back to the Mariner, he started getting tired... the zoo was a lot more fun for the both of us than I thought it was going to be... we'll be back there soon, and often, I'm sure!

 

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