Over dinner last night Vicky suggested we might drive to Yosemite
National Park, which had originally
been one of our planned destinations, for the day. The idea appealed until we realized it would
be a 250 mile roundtrip drive, potentially exhausting. So I offered to check out things to do in Sacramento,
which is only about 40 miles from here.
The first thing I found was their zoo. Their website showed Coconut, their newborn
snow leopard, exploring his habitat for the first time. At this point it didn't matter to us what
other animals the zoo had. This was a
must see for us. I also found an
interesting history museum which also offers underground tours of the city.
So this morning we set out for the State Capital, planning
to visit the zoo and then, if time permits, explore the museum. We arrive at the zoo just in time for the
animal show in their outdoor amphitheater, only to discover that the
amphitheater is closed as it contains a hornet's nest. Not to worry, the staff will bring out some
animals for us. So we meet a quite
beautiful Brazilian rainbow boa, the first of her kind born by parthenogenesis
(the female giving birth without the help of a male), a spiny tailed lizard
(surprisingly soft in the body but with a hard tail he uses for defense) and
several parrots.
We ask the keeper about the snow leopard cub, She checks and discoversthey already tried to
bring him out but he showed no interest, so he probably won't be out
today. We're heartbroken, of course, but
there's still plenty to see. We do find
the mother snow leopard, sleeping the day away (she's a cat, after all) and
right across from her is an otter exhibit.
The two residents are playing in and out of the water (they're otters,
after all) but what makes this special is a floor to ceiling glass wall that
enables the otters to see us. They're
curious and often come over, standing on their hind whatever, to look at us. We're both charmed, Vicky especially, and spend
a lot of time with them.
The zoo is quite small but their zoo teens are very friendly
and teach us about frogs, bongos {the "most colorful" antelope) and
cats paws (all cats can walk across surfaces with sharp edges without damage to
their paws; snow leopards have a lot of fur around their paws to keep them
warm). The animal exhibits are full of
behavioral enrichment objects, which says a lot about the philosophy of the zoo,
so we're impressed.
We see 2 sleeping lions, a sleeping jaguar and several
resting kangaroos and wallabies. We're
delighted by two species of lemur, including a white ruffed species I call
"snow lemurs", and check out most of the other exhibits. We break for lunch and then head over to the
gibbon exhibit where there will soon be a keeper talk. The gibbons, better at swinging from branch
to branch than any other ape, keep us amused with their antics for a while. Vicky looks at her watch and realizes we
still have 15 minutes before the keeper talk and we're close to the otters, so
we decide to visit them again.
We never make it!
There are lots of people around the snow leopard exhibit and I can see some
keepers inside it. This can only mean
one thing. The baby is out! So we end up spending over a half hour being
totally charmed by the 18 week old cub.
He's exploring the (large) habitat and initially he disappears behind a
bale of straw, occasionally peeking out.
As we wait, he comes out, checks out all the people, and goes back to
the rear. Eventually he comes right
across the front, looking at us but mostly playing with the grass and
trees. He settles down chewing grass
(hey, buddy, don't you know you're a carnivore?) then playing with a stick of
wood.
The keepers, each carrying a sheet of Plexiglas that they
keep in front of their legs, mostly leave him to his own devices. Eventually one of them lures Coconut to an
area where there's a stuffed leopard, a large blanket and other toys. The baby attacks the stuffed animal, grabs
and pulls the blanket, falling over in the process, and then bounds over to one
of the keepers. Now we know why they
have the Plexiglas sheets! Finally,
after subduing the blanket a second time, he picks up his small stuffed tiger
in his teeth and trots back into his night house. It's clear who's in charge here, and it's not
the keepers. However, since he's inside
they shut the door and that's the end of our fun. But what an amazing experience! Snow leopards are shy and solitary and even
getting more than a glimpse of one in a zoo is unusual. To have over 30 minutes to share the joy of
this new life is a privilege we never thought to have. We are indeed blessed.
There's not much that could top that, so we decide to return
home for dinner. First stop is a Petsmart
to get Quill's prescription medicine. I
didn't mention that on the way down this morning we saw signs for another California
Welcome Center
and followed them. They took us off the
freeway and then we found ourselves with 3 ways to go, no sign of the Welcome
Center and no more directions. Strike3!
We gave up. On the way home we
decide to try again. This time there are
more signs and we find ourselves in a nicely laid out shopping center. We've given up on the Welcome
Center but see signs for a
Coldstone Creamery, our favorite ice cream.
As we look for a place to park, we actually find the Welcome
Center, which closes at 4pm.
It's now 4:30. Strike 4!
But we do get to enjoy the ice cream, and then find a way home that will
be easy for the RV as we head this way tomorrow.
Sausages grilled outside and eaten with a view of the river
end a perfect day. The cats, of course,
want out but we keep them in and they eat their dinner in peace. They don't know how much I wish I could have
brought them a new playmate!
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