Toledo Zoo

This sculpture can be found at the Toledo Zoo.  It is called the Hippo Arch.  I do believe that it is a bit more exciting than the Arch of St.Louis, Missouri!  You may be wondering what we where doing in Toledo.  Again,  this time we did not move our rig.  We are registered to stay at our present location in Michigan for a month.  However, we learned that my brother Marcus and his wife Heidi ( who live outside of Toledo) will be going on vacation soon.  If we were going to see them at all we needed to travel to Ohio this past Friday and Saturday.  That is the beauty of towing our little Honda with us, so we can make those short quick trips.  Our nephew Ben and his Mom, Raquel, also were vising my brother and joined us on a a trip to the zoo Saturday.   Shortly after entering the zoo we found  a perfect photo opportunity for Ben.  Fortunately he is one child who does not mind his picture taken.  What a couple of cool dudes!

To get a good view of the zoo's African savanna we boarded a train.  In that area we saw wildebeest as well as kudus and zebras.  Equally fascinating to me were two termite trees, the taller of the trees still is "living", according to our train tour guide.  That reminded me of a tree near our motor home back in Michigan which is being eaten by carpenter ants-  sawdust constantly covers the ground and our picnic table!

 We have been to some zoos where the animals are either difficult to find in their cages or are inactive.  That was not the case for us Saturday.  In the various pool of the park we saw sea lions and penguins diving and swimming around.  And how cute are the river otters pictured below, holding onto each other as they frolicked in the water!  John read on an interpretive near their pond that they are related to skunks.

I think the biggest thrill for me at the zoo was watching the zoo's youngest elephant at play.  In his pen was part of a tire which he either tried to sit on, roll with, or just kicked around.  Occasionally he would take a break from this activity, run over to a tire hanging from a tree nearby, and hit it hard with his trunk to get it swinging wildly.  That was not as much fun as the piece of tire on the ground so he would always return to it.
I think we all enjoyed the Toledo Zoo immensely, and maybe for John and I it rates almost as good as the St.Louis Zoo.   It was a hot and muggy day, so consequently we did not cover all of the zoo.  There is a whole section of the park, which includes a science museum, aquarium, conservatory and formal gardens, that we did not see.  In that area is also a large amphitheater where music concerts are held. We headed back to St.Louis later that day.  Before we left I just had to take a picture of my brother's rose garden.