The Alaska Zoo

When we pulled up to the zoo after a bit of a drive from the hotel, Logan goes, "I thought this was it, since there's an owl on the sign."  Which was hilarious only because there wasn't an owl on the sign.

I couldn't believe when we got to the zoo how much snow was on the ground.  I had heard from a friend (hey Carrie!) that there was snow in Anchorage, but downtown where we were staying, it was gone.  As we drove toward the zoo and hit a bit higher elevation there was snow everywhere.  The treeline along the mountains was beautiful.

At the zoo it was piled high, and there were a lot of frozen puddles.  I wished I had had the boys wear boots, as the snow and ice were like magnets to them!  What is it about little boys and messes?

Other than more snow than I have ever seen at a zoo, the trip was amazing!  The enclosures are incredibly close and I fell in love with every animal I saw.

This Snowy Owl in particular won me over.  

His fat paws and sweet lil' face killed me!

We were all enthralled with the wolves.  

Wyatt was silent watching them.

There was an entire pack.

I wish I could have gotten a better picture through the fence,

but let me tell you, they were beautiful.

Breathtaking.

And so close!  We were as close as this picture looks.

No zoom.

Later as we walked through the zoo, we could hear the pack howling.  It was the most amazing sound. Almost beautiful, but also kinda scary!

Mommy Moose!

Jack Moose!

Logan  Moose!

Wyatt was so good.  I thought for sure he'd complain and want out, or get too cold (I think it was like 36 degrees out), but he was a great little trooper.

We also saw Siberian tigers.  They were beautiful.

And again, so close!

After hearing the wolves, we really wished the tigers would roar!

Do you see that blackness to the right of the twins? Yeah, that's a black bear!

That's what I'm talking about when I say close enclosures!

Here they are again, from another angle.

As the boys walked along the bears' fence, the bears trailed them, noses in the air.

It made my experience in Marshall very real.  Bears are a true threat out there,

and those bears made it apparent that my boys would be a tasty treat!

I loved seeing their paw prints in the snow,

and watching their body movements.

The water in their huge water basin was frozen over, and the bear used his weight and his huge paws to bust it open to release the water below. So smart and fun to watch!

I simply cannot get over how close we got to get!

Josh really likes bald eagles, and these ones, again, were really close. 

If you aren't catching my drift, I really loved the Alaska Zoo.

And I highly recommend going if you have the opportunity.

I really like all the native Alaskan animals they have. 

We saw red fox, lots of owls & birds, 

and these Caribou.

They also have the biggest camel I have ever seen.

Ever.

The guy was a monster!

And they had some llamas.

And this Musk Ox, which, again was so close!

The Polar bears were also big, and Wyatt was very excited to see them.

It only took us about an hour and a half to see the whole zoo,

and we were really meandering.

I was glad it was quick only because it was cold!

Can you spot the snow leopard?

The brown bears were our last exhibit.

Jack said this brown bear was sad because his ball was stuck outside his gate!

I thought that was so cute!

This is the "baby" brown bear.

He was huge!

It was so fun to watch him. 

We probably stayed there for almost fifteen minutes, just watching this big guy.

He and I made eye contact for a really long time, which felt really special.

Seeing how big he was (Seriously, HUGE, people!) made me grateful we have never run into one on our walks to the airport in Alaska. 

Finally at the end, we set Wyatt free from his "baby jail" 

as Josh calls the stroller, and he was happy as a clam!

We got in the car, all talking over one another about what our favorite parts were.  

We agreed that the bears and wolves were the highlights, 

although that fat snowy owl was pretty darn cute, too!

It was a great way to spend one of our mornings in Anchorage.