Aylmer Express "MoHo" Extravaganza 2006

Yesterday’s word was:

gloaming \GLOH-ming\,
noun: Twilight; dusk.

Well, well, well. We decided to spend our first day at the St. Louis Zoo. Actually we thought we would spend just half a day at the zoo as we did not arrive until around 1:00. Thank goodness the place stayed open until 7:00 as it was the most amazing zoo we have ever seen. We spent 6 hours meandering around the beautifully designed and maintained grounds viewing a seemingly endless panoply of animals. It got to the point where I had almost lost the ability to be impressed by the sheer beauty of the different animals, or the cleverness of the design of the viewing areas, or the fabulous information they provided on each specimen. Every facet of the zoo seemed to have been thought through thoroughly and executed to perfection. And the really unbelievable part is that the admission is free!

We saw anteaters, warthogs, grizzly bears, pink flamingos, giraffes, bongos, hippos, camels, pythons, kangaroos, tarantulas, polar bears, camels, crocodiles, anacondas, lemurs, emus, panthers, zebras, capybaras, rhinoceroses, hyenas, ostriches, cheetahs, turtles, jaguars, monkeys, mongooses (mongeese?), leopards, elephants, tigers, catfish, scorpions, butterflies, baboons, boas, geckos, frogs, toads, cobras, iguanas, basilisks, tortoises, vipers, warty pigs, penguins, chimpanzees, prairie dogs, white swans, black swans, pumas, gazelles, storks, cranes, okapis, addaxes, takins, and even a “wild ass” and a “gila monster”! I think you get the idea. It basically looked like the unloading area for Noah’s arc. And the surprising thing is that we had to skip some of the really cool stuff. It was an incredible experience that I would highly recommend to anyone passing though St. Louis.

As you can imagine, after that we were more than a little fatigued however, before heading back to the MoHo, we decided to stop by a Starbucks to get some internet access. Thanks to our handy GPS we were pointed to the Central West End of the city which is, as you might guess, one of the very trendy areas. Unfortunately Starbucks was charging for their internet access. But here in the land of capitalism we found a place called the Coffee Cartel just across the street, and it was offering free internet access. So, not surprisingly, that is where we settled to update this blog and check our email. Then finally it was back to the campsite. On our way home we made use of the GPS once again to help us avoid a backup on the highway. I must say that the GPS can be quite handy when you are in an unknown area … especially at night. Thanks Eric & Joe!

Stay tuned for more St.Louis happenings soon!