home for the weekend

i had a 3 day weekend so i went home. i took the ferry at sunset, which was quite pretty.

saturday we rode our bikes to the zoo. i haven't been to a zoo on purpose since i was in college (and forced to go for an anthropology course). my feelings about zoos have changed somewhat since my militant vegan days. i used to think that they all should be closed, no discussion. now i realize there is almost no black and white. about anything.

i used to think animals were better off in their own habitat, regardless of the fact that many zoo animals' lives are arguably healthier than they would be in the real world.

now i think that reputable zoos have animals' best interests in mind, which is good, since no one else does. it would seem that the way things are going, zoos will become the only places we'll see polar bears, african cats, frogs, etc... this makes me very sad.

this is coming from someone who can't watch nature shows. i can't handle poachers killing lions. i can't handle lions killing gazelles. i can't handle lions starving to death because there are no gazelles. i can't handle that there are no gazelles because there is no water. i can't handle that there is no water because the climate is changing because of us. and on and on.

anyway- here's a funny picture of me, sean, a tapir, and some family.

sunday i drove back to port angeles. i didn't have to wait at all for the ferry, which was great. sean would have had a super long wait had he come here instead.

across the hood canal yet again

have a good week!

i saw a bear yesterday

and i was very excited.

i went to hurricane ridge after work. the road is quite scary, especially now that it is under construction and covered in loose gravel. i hiked as much of the short, paved hurricane hill trail as i could before it got dark. i spent a lot of time looking in the meadows with binoculars and finally saw a black bear wandering around. very cool. i also saw lots of deer and a flock of flickers.

here's a bunch of pictures from the evening. it is so beautiful here!