Lebanon, Ohio Part 3 July 27- August 26

The last section of the Ohio post includes our visit to Columbus, Ohio.  First stop was to visit with friends from Palm Creek, Mary Jo and Dick Weaver.

Mary Jo and Dick treated us to a great game of golf.  Here are the four of us enjoying a 19th hole late lunch and my new favorite drink, a "seabreeze!" Afterwards we visited at their house for a little "Palm Creek Style Happy Hour!"

Before we left, Mary Jo made sure we had some free passes to the Columbus Zoo, made famous by Jack Hanna.  Every exhibit has a docent to enhance our understanding of the animals.  We learned things like the fact that kangaroos cannot go backwards and that tortises, although they move slowly, are strong enough to have taken down the strong wooden post fence in their area.

We thought we would only be there for a short while but this zoo is like nothing else we had ever experienced and we stayed the entire day.  I have lots of great photos but will just share some highlights.

  There are no cages making it is more like walking through a park.  We were amazed at how close we got to the animals like this alligator.

Or how you were able to feel like you could communicate with the animals. Mark and this guy enjoyed quite the conversation!

And sometimes, it was how they literally just "flocked" to you like these beautiful Lorikeets.  They are very friendly birds and love the nectar in the little cup Mark is holding!

We also enjoyed watching this Gibbon fly through the air as he swayed around the tree limbs and flew down the ropes!

We were highly entertained watching the Humboldt Penguins play in the water.  Each penguin and their mate had a matching color coded bands. (See the blue bands on these two just before they dove into the water!)

It was fascinating to watch the huge manatees and the babies glide through the water.  These were all rescued animals and given a home at the zoo. (Please ignore the lady reflected in the glass.)

We were awed by the beauty of the coral reef display...

...and charmed by the antics of a baby elephant.

We were fascinated to see a Komodo Dragon with is serpent like forked tounge...

...and saw some strange animals that I can't remember what its called like this guy with the zebra stripes on his legs...

...or these animals that are some type of sheep with  large curly-q-horns.

We saw all the typical zoo animals: the lions, tigers, bears (black bears, grizzly, Koala and polar bears), the rhinos, kangaroos, wolves, otters, eagles, bison and deer (including prong horn and rheindeer).  We also saw the lesser known Bonobos, Mandrills, Okapi, and Duikers, But its time to say goodbye to a wonderful day at the Columbus zoo!

This wraps up our Ohio leg, next stop...Michigan!