Scenes from the Portland Zoo

Oh wow, here are a lot of pictures of the Portland Zoo--probably more than anyone would care to see, but I had such fun with my brother and nephews that I wanted to showcase some of the highlights. My brother's family visits the zoo pretty regularly, so I'm not sure they were as dazzled and delighted as I was, given that I haven't been to a zoo in many years.
One of my favorite things was a lovely carved mural in the "Northwest" section of the zoo. The creatures in it are sublime.

A set of miniature train tracks threads through the zoo, but the train itself seemed quite inoperational. I spied it, abandoned and in disrepair, further down the tracks. I assumed it was haunted.

Monkeys are often sort of depressing or disquieting, and these chimps were no different. Still, fun to see. The orangutans were very morose. (But deadly).

The sea lions were among the most majestic and beautiful creatures we spied. They glided around and around their pool. I wanted to harness their courageous and playful spirits. Or I wanted to harness the sea lions themselves and ride them into the sunset.

These frogs were really awesome. They're called tomato frogs, but apparently, they're pretty poisonous, so don't eat them by mistake!

I wasn't expecting to see any wolves at the zoo, because my brother told me that all of their wolves mysteriously died last year. Much to my excitement, the zoo apparently got two wolves from Minnesota this year. A noble spirit animal, this wolf came very close to me, and its friend started to howl, just like wolves do on television! Amazing!

The zoo is in a great location, and the "Northwest" section seamlessly blends into the dense Oregon forest around it. What a radical visit! And we got cotton candy, too.