At the Zoo

 The State of North Carolina has a wonderful natural habitat State Zoological Park in the center of the state near Asheboro, NC.  I had not been there for many years and Trish had never been there when we decided to stop by on a trip last week.

I was amazed at how much the zoo has grown since my last visit and how beautifully the animals lived in their environments. 

Otters play in North America.

There are two large divisions: North America and Africa.  We went to Africa first.  You walk along paths in the woods and visit the large natural habitat areas where elephants, rhinos, and other large animals have their homes.

The elephants covered themselves with so much dust that they turned pale brown.

Then we went to North America and saw everything from bears to bison…we bypassed the snakes!

We spent about three hours at the zoo because it was a very hot day.  The walkways are very shady, though, and make it much more comfortable than open space would be.

Beautiful black bears at feeding time.