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here are some pics of the progress today.

^ you're too fast for me..I was updating commentary. . . LOL

Awesome tour, Bert! But snakes .... eh ..... even photos of them make me feel a touch uncomfortable. Gators and Crocodiles, too. One is too slithery ... and the others are too .....toothy. Ho, ho, ho.

More zoo.. . still in Africa section: the Elephants were all out, and were pretty active today too and just up the pathway? FEEEEEED MEEEEEEEEE the San Antonio Zoo has gotten in on the trend of places charging for every possible extra. . so yeah, you can feed the Elephants, or fish, or Birds, or Giraffes (if you pay extra) or walk with the flamingos, or kangaroos, or take behind the scenes tours. . if you pay. i TOTALLY get that they are raising additional cash this way, and good on them. but is sucks that things like the Giraffe Enclosure - that used to let you get up pretty close to that barrier, no longer lets you do that - unless you want to pay to feed them lettuce. oh well, still got some pretty good pictures. the Giraffe Enclosure also has Zebras and some Emus in it. . some of those guys just don't wanna deal with people, and preferred to hang out towards the back of the enclosure eating the provided food, instead of having to intermingle with HUMANS to get it: the Emu was hiding underneath the platform. .but can still see them from certain angles More of that really nice artwork that's around the San Antonio Zoo.. this one just outside the Rhino enclosure who were also all out and about. . .and eating. They must have just done a feeding after the zoo opened. these were put up for the Zoo Lights. . so temporary art. but love the signs warning the kids to keep off "Santa's Watching". . . . LOL and a Rhino that also lights up Warthogs recall I noted that one can really tell where the "old zoo" starts and the "new zoo" ends? yeah. . getting over into the older zoo section now with the old skool enclosures: for some reason, this display wasn't near the Giraffes. .but was in front of the Lion enclosure. I thought Lions didn't tend to go after Giraffes since they are so big? the Giant Anteater was actually out. think it's the first time I've ever seen him! I saw these suckers in Japan. .they are MEAN. and they look mean! just look at those claws. amusingly. . as so many of the animals that are never active were active today? the big cats - that usually are prowling - were sleeping, and kinda hidden, today. here's the Lions: and here's the Tiger - hanging out in the hammock even the Kangaroos were kinda lazy this afternoon. tho the Porcupines were quite active yeah. . older section of the zoos.. but at least this enclosure seems to be getting a bit of love. (some of them have sat empty for years, and one of them even just has a giant tree in it) how does *this* bear measure up? hahahaha. .that sad enclosure that I just mentioned that only has a tree in it? they "festive-ed" it up, by putting lights on it, and a snowman! HA! again, the enclosures in the "older" section of the zoo, can be a little bit depressing. but I guess Fish (and birds) that tend to be over in this section, don't really care. Mean. . . so mean. and just waiting for a small child to fall lin. another "repurposed" empty enclosure. HO HO HO way way back at the very end of a dead end. . is the Kangaroo encounter (no feeding tho). the zoo put this big Kanga at the end of the main path to at least draw people over, so they would see what's over there. it worked for me. . even if I didn't bother with the paid "Encounter" [Kennywood] Turrrrrrrr-tullllllllllle [/Kennywood] wow. . BOTH Eagles were out. one perched: and one on the ground eating what looked like a dead mouse: moving out of the older section back into the newer areas as I make my way around the zoo. . ther really are some lovely areas. think this is an older part still tho.. as it's not ADA compliant, and several sections of this path were closed-off and way overgrown. but you can get some nice pics from this "bridge" another one of those huge "I'm not scared of humans" Black Squirrels I'd held it off long enough.. time for a ride on the Zoo Carousel. Strangely, NOT called the "Conservation Carousel" here. I wonder if the National Zoo Association knows they broke precedent? at only $3 a ride, it's a fairly good deal. I had really wanted to ride the Eagle. . but once I got to it, I quickly realized that any adult is gonna have an issue. . as the way they did the wings? there's no place for one's legs to go! so I settled for the Tree Frog next to the Eagle. Whee! It really is quite lovely. . if not the greatest Carousel I've ever been on. Still. .it's a nice one. and a *really* nice job on the animals/reptiles on it. it was getting past 2pm by this point, and SFFT had opened at 2. . so I headed over to the last sections of the Zoo I'd not yet been to - mainly Amphibia, for the frogs/creatures. and they had this area all done up for the Zoo Lights with a few displays up. " so I stopped in front of a few of the decorated trees/backgrounds that I liked for some selfies. it was so quiet over here, I took my mask off for the pics. (this area is really sorta hidden off the main pathway around the zoo, since the Kiddie Amusement area cuts it off from the front gates of the zoo) as noted. .it's really sorta hidden back here. So imagine my surprise when I realized that over here is where they had put Santa and "Twinkle Penguin the Elf" for photos. Twinkle saw me taking pics and called/waved me over to them. She said "So what would you like for Christmas?" and I responded: "Well, I'm Jewish, and Chanukah starts soon. . so what I'd really like for Chanukah is a free photo with you and Santa on my phone, instead of paying for a picture" She and Santa both laughed. . and: Ta-Da! there was no one else around, so I hung out and talked to them for a few minutes - she liked my shirt, and my hair.. and we just BSed until some families showed up to purchase photos - at which point I took a quick pic of them, and went on into the Amphibia display. not sure what kind of sea-snakes these are. .but they freaked me out. NOPE Big, ol, fat, frog. there's a nice play area out back over here with some lovely mosaics too. Some small animal enclosures. .but I think they might rent this area out (including the lawn where the trees were) for events. and the upcharge Camel rides are back here too: [Kennywood] Turrrrrrrr-tullllllllllle [/Kennywood] although it's a GIANT TURRRRRRR-TULLLLLLLE lots of Turtles here. . . awww. . poor baby! but so cute. walking back around to the Jaguars before heading out, I wanted to see if they had come down from the Bridge. and at least one of them had, to ground level. . and was pacing: headed to the front gates to go over to Fiesta. . and what's this? a walk around Rhino? dressed as an Elf? hmmm. . should I get in line and wait for a picture? please - do you know me at ALL? of course I did! the Carousel in the kiddie park, as seen from the pathway to the front gates exit. it will shock you perhaps that I didn't bother with it. but I know that 1) it's a crappy carousel, very small and the animals aren't in great shape & 2) they have a weight limit for riders, and I am too heavy. remember, it's the kiddie park.. the rides really ARE kiddie rides. So I just took a picture as I walked by it. but right by the exit, they did have one of the most animated Dinos. . who roared, and gnashed his teeth. So took a pic with him (and you can see it was overcast enough that the lights actually had come on). worth a trip.. we did the Zoo lights a few years ago, and they were lovely. Rarrrrrrr! and with that, I headed out, and drove over to SFFT to pick up my brand new Platinum Season Pass and spend some time there before heading back home to Austin. SFFT coming up next. . with pics of the pieces of Dr. Diabolical's Cliffhanger.