The Oregon Zoo: orangutans and Irishmen and bears, oh my!

I'm still kind of up in the air about zoos - some of them are just so sad and depressing. But the Oregon Zoo is not one of those - as far as I know [which is not very far], the animals seemed to be well taken care of and as happy as they can be in zoos. And I got a discount for taking public transportation there!

We first went to get a snack at the cafeteria, where they had a bunch of art hanging made by one of their resident elephants, Rama. I was thinking about buying a painting on our way out, but it had completely slipped my mind by the time we actually left. One day, though, I might order one...

Bears be chillin'.

Pacific Northwest foliage.

The majestic bald eagle! Just makes your American heart soar, doesn't it?

I grew up with this kind of turtle, but I still think they're adorable and picture-worthy.

I call this one "the shar-pei bear."

We were bummed out that we couldn't see the orangutans - their habitat had just been redesigned, so they needed some privacy to get used to it. But the tunnel that led to the other monkeys went through the orangutan habitat and had windows in the ceiling - and right when we were walking below one of the windows, an orangutan jumped onto it and started making faces at us. Totally made our day.

Monkeys be chillin', too.

And big cats be starin'.

Ahhhhhh, dirt bath.

Run!

The child exhibit was particularly interesting, although I think their habitat might need to be redesigned, too.

Mmm, naked mole rat.

The zoo puts on concerts in the summer, and when we walked by the stage, I noticed that one of the guitar cases had "Swell Season" [the band made up of Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova, singing their songs from Once and others] on it. I was very excited, but it turned out that the concert was sold out. Boo. BUT. As Chiemi and I were walking away from the stage, who should be walking toward it but Glen Hansard himself! He was talking on the phone but was a darling and let me get a quick picture with him, anyway. I didn't want to take him away from his phone call more than that, so I didn't get a chance to really talk to him, but he seemed really nice, and finding out that my favorite musicians are also nice people is one of my favorite things in the world.