We visited the San Francisco Zoo this week.  It is open again  (it’s about time) and the remodeling has done absolutely wonderful things for the facility.  The animals look happier, their habitats are bigger and more natural, it’s easier to see the animals, and I got in free because I went the day after Chinese New Year, and it just so happens that this is the year of the Rooster, and I was born in the year of the Rooster.

I love to visit the zoo.  It is wide open with fresh air, nifty keen plants with little tags telling me what they are, and poop flinging chimps.  When Chris was in the first six months of his Air Force training, Jonas and I went to the zoo frequently.  At the time, Jonas was a young one year old and pretty oblivious to most of the animals.  I suppose when your view of an elephant is only of the beasts knees, it isn’t very interesting.  We spent most of our time just running around or getting butted by goats in the petting zoo.  I remember once a goat butted him so hard he knocked him flat on his back in the saw dust.  Being the good mother I am, I laughed at him.  Now he is a big two and a half year old.  It was so awesome to take him to the zoo after not going for a year and seeing him see the animals and see his responses.  He pointed at the giraffes (my favs), laughed at the flamingos, and stared pensively at the gorilla for about five minutes, which, in Jonas time, is like an hour.  He had his face up against the glass and the gorilla sat there, about two feet away and looked right back at him.  I wish I could read minds so I could know what they thought of each other.  I’ve rarely seen Jonas study anything with such intensity.  The moment felt very profound, although I’m still not sure why, or what the exact word describing what I felt was.  In simple terms, it was just very cool.

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