Long walk to the Assiniboine Zoo

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Long walk to the zoo
Bears, cats, birds & kangaroos
Chilly out but nice.

I decided to change my plans today and go to the zoo with Laura as opposed to checking out the Manitoba Museum and the Planetarium. We left around 11:30, after a leisurely breakfast and walked for a good hour before coming up on the zoo area. It was a little chilly out but not too bad once we got walking. You should have seen how red my cheeks got...perma blush. haha. It was pretty quiet at the zoo. There were perhaps six to eight cars in the car park? Walking around to the different pens it was almost like we were the only ones in the zoo besides the people working there. I'm not the biggest fan of zoos, looking at caged up animals housed in smallish "living quarters" but I felt the $3.75 for admission to the zoo was fair. I got my money's worth. I must admit I was impressed by the bears. They had two brown bears that were pretty active. Then the next pen had three black bears that were also moving about. One of them actually was pacing quite a bit. Oh yeah and one of the black bears was actually white in colour...an albino. The third pen housed the lone polar bear. He was awake but not moving about too much.

There are actually quite a few animals at the zoo. They had an Australian section (with kangaroos, wallabies, kookaburas etc.), monkeys, bison, caribou, deer, cats (bobcat, lynx, cheetah, tiger etc.), farm animals, birds, camels, yaks and much, much more.

It turned out to be a pretty gray day outside with cloud cover every where. About an hour before sunset you could see the clouds parting a bit and even a few patches of blue sky. But not enough for the sun to peak out and make an appearance, at least not in the right spot. Oh well.

After roaming around the zoo for a few hours we headed back towards the hostel with the thought of Tim Horton's on our minds. I finally got a chance to try a hot smoothie (butter caramel) and also a maple cream (sort of like a boston cream but instead of chocolate icing it had maple icing.) The hot smoothie and donut were both quite sweet but Yum! We sat there for a bit to warm up and refuel. Before leaving I went to use the washroom when I noticed they were out of toilet paper. So I went to ask for some. They guy hands me a roll and then says to me, "Let me know if you need more." Hmm, does it look like I'm having tummy troubles?" lol

WE then moved on and walked about a block or two to an internet place we saw earlier. So we stopped there for a bit. There sure were a lot of young kids in there playing video games. Guess they have nothing better to do on a Saturday.

After our bit of fun on the internet we had about a 15 minute walk back to the hostel but ended up stopping by Shoppers Drug Mart for a bit first to pick up a few snacks and stuff that we saw on sale in the flier earlier this morning. It's surprising how large of a food section they have at some Shoppers Drug Mart's here in Winnipeg.

By the time we got back to the hostel it was about 7PM. Wow! We sure did stay out "late" tonight. lol

When we got back, the hostel seemed pretty full. Lots of people had come from the train and would be taking off for Churchill or be Vancouver or Toronto bound. Hmm, really makes me want to see the polar bears in Churchill talking to all of these people that will do just that tomorrow...one day...

Since it seemed like a "full house" I ended up talking to lots of folks and there was no evening movie to watch for a change which was fine with me! But it did mean I ended up going to bed earlier than normal, around 10. Mind you, I ended up talking with Laura and a new roommate, Natalie for quite some time before falling asleep.

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