Tonight, Scott's school, Colorado College, offered a free night at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo for all of its employees, alumni, and I think students. Cooper's still a little too young to appreciate all the magnificent animals, but the fact that it was free made the choice to go an easy one (well, that combined with the fact that we don't really have a ton of social events going on these days. When you don't know anyone in town, that's pretty much the case). So we loaded up Cooper, grabbed our books to donate, and headed to the zoo.
Now this isn't just any zoo. This is a gorgeous zoo, located on the south side of Cheyenne Mountain (hence the name, go figure). I've really never seen anything like it. To get to the animals, you have to be ready to climb A LOT, but the scenery is so beautiful that you really don't mind all of the climbing. And from the mountain, the views of Colorado Springs are absolutely breathtaking. I found myself often thinking, "Do we really live here?"
Our first stop was the giraffe exhibit. I was so disappointed because we walked up to the exhibit, and there were no giraffes. I'm not gonna lie; my first thought was "So we get a free night at the
zoo, but the animals aren't even out?? That's kinda crappy." I'm glad I didn't vocalize my pessimism because almost immediately afterward, I realized the giraffes were just inside eating. I'm not sure what this inside building was; maybe the giraffes sleep there? All I know is it smelled like crap, literally. But the giraffes were gorgeous. I don't remember ever being this close to one. Really amazing animals.
See? This one just looks so friendly. It even looks like he's smiling. How close do you wanna get?
I wanted to take pictures of Scott and Coop with the giraffes, but Scott didn't want to get too close. I don't blame him. Mr. Giraffe here looks like he's up to no good!
Our next stop was the Tiger exhibit because they were going to have a special feeding of the tiger. There were so many people waiting to see this feeding that it was almost impossible to get a good look at the feeding; plus, it was a tiny bit anti-climactic, since the zookeeper was standing behind a large fence and feeding the tiger though a hole. This is what all the people were gathered around to see? I wanted a little more excitement and drama! I mean, I wasn't looking for the tiger to attack the zookeeper or anything, but a nice roar wouldn't have hurt anybody now, would it?
The tiger's stripes really are beautiful. And Coop seemed to enjoy watching!
I didn't take pictures of many other animals, other than these monkeys. They're named Colobus Monkeys. I found out they leap through the trees, but if they're in danger, they may quickly drop to the ground, even if it's a 40 foot drop. They kind of look like skunks to me. Interestingly enough, the babies are born pure white. I also read that they spend hours grooming each other's fur as a way of bonding. That explains this photo:
We saw many other amazing animals, like the moose, a porcupine, mountain lions, a pig, and even wild turkeys just wandering around. The zoo has its own petting zoo, which brought back fond memories of my mom and dad taking us to Branson when we were little. I can't wait until Coop is old enough to be allowed into the petting zoo with the goats. I'm sure he will love it.
Best of all, we got to meet the CC Tiger. Scott jokingly asked why in the world we choose schools with terrible mascot colors. First, OSU orange; now, CC yellow. I say, Orange Power all the way!
All in all, it was an extremely fun night with my boys, and it seems like Coop had a lot of fun:
Tonight was the first night that I really felt a genuine love starting to form for Colorado Springs. Now, maybe that's because on the way to the zoo, we drove through the old part of town, with the most beautiful (and expensive) homes, and I'm now determined that's where we need to live (anyone have money to donate to my Co Springs fund??) But, in all seriousness, this place is beautiful and has so many fun things to do. Coop is going to have an entirely different experience growing up here than he would have growing up in Oklahoma. Not that one is better than the other. It's just different. As much as I miss my home, I'm grateful that Cooper gets to have this experience. I'm grateful we get to go outside and enjoy the fresh air; I'm grateful we get to see giraffes up close and watch the porcupine stand on its hind end; I'm grateful we get to do something that's not our normal.
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