3/29/2008

Walk on the Wild Side

Trent gave me a membership to the North Carolina Zoo for Christmas. It's the largest natural habitat zoo in the nation and such a beautiful place. We haven't been in 4 years so I have really been looking forward to going. One of the highlights this year is the "new & improved" rhino and elephant area. In the past we could only view them from a distance. I was in awe during a trip to the Nashville Zoo in 2005 when we could get so close to the elephants.

This morning the zoo had a special 8am opening for members and we could see the new exhibit space: Watani Grasslands Reserve. Here's a photo I took from within the exhibit. In the righthand side you can see where one of the observation areas is located.

For a bit of perspective, I took this next photo from the same location - a full 180° from the previous view. The building in the photo is the African Pavilion. There is an observation area at the rear of it (far right) - that is one of the old areas to view the elephants. Quite a difference.
As large as the NC Zoo is, you probably need 8 hours to really enjoy it all and not feel rushed. We had only planned to spend about 4 hours since our membership allows us free visits for a full 12 months. This worked perfectly as the forecasts of 20% chance of rain were wrong. The rain came early on and poured! We ducked into the sea lion and polar bear exhibits to keep dry. After about an hour of dodging the rain, it was obvious it wouldn't clear up anytime soon so we ventured on northward to visit with my dad & his wife for the afternoon. Of course, the rain stopped before we got there. Hopefully our next visit will be a bit sunnier. :)

Regarding yesterday's post about the eye pillow and yoga - I had questions in the comment section about what the connection was. Trent & I enjoy taking a gentle style yoga class that ends with corpse pose or savasana. During this time you lay completely still on your back mentally scanning for tense spots throughout your body. Slowly relaxing those areas. Releasing the tension. Focusing entirely on your body & how it feels. An eye pillow can come in handy to block out light and place a small amount of relaxing pressure on the eyes & sinuses. Also, I've found mine to be handy during migraines for the same reasons.

12 comments:

  1. OH! I get it! :-)
    Thanks for clearing that up.
    Sounds like something I could use!

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  2. beautiful pictures! gotta put it on my list of wnat to see if we get the chance to travel that way.

    and love the idea of an eye pillow.
    can you fill with herbs?

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  3. Great pixs of the Elephants.
    Love the eye pillow Idea.
    Might have to make one of my own.

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  4. Oh I love the pictures!!!!!!

    Eye pillows... I'm such a migraine sufferer.. that might be nice!!!

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  5. Great pic of the elephants. It looks like a really great place to spend time. Love how close they are.:)

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  6. Those pictures are wonderful! Love your itsy store! Thanks for visiting my blog and your sweet comment!

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  7. That looks like a wonderful zoo. Great pictures!
    What do you put in your eye pillow?

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  8. Ohhh yes I bet that is usefull that way, should get one.
    Love your post about the zoo, I love zoos!!!

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  9. Now I understand about the eye pillow! I can see how that would be helpful. Great zoo pictures! Love the wide open natural-looking habitats!

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  10. Love the humphalumps, lol. And the eye pillow sounds so soothing!

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