![\"Red](\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/ohc-07-07-09_wine-300x225.jpg\" "\\"Red")
![\"Ice](\"http:\/\/foodembrace.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/07\/ohc-07-07-09_icecream.jpg\" "\\"Ice")
<\/a><\/p>\n\u00a0 The ice cream was Jeni’s Bourbon Buttered Pecan and it was delish although I did feel it was lacking slightly and could have used a bit more umph. No idea what could have remedied that though.<\/p>\n
Wednesday it was up bright and early to hit the zoo!\u00a0 We had oats for breakfast.<\/p>\n
Coffee for some wakeup fuel.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Basic oats with blueberries.\u00a0 I wasn’t feeling the mix -ins nor was I feeling a bigger portion.\u00a0 I stuck to the regular regular and some OJ on the side.<\/p>\n
There were a lot of rules posted about what you can and can’t bring into the zoo in terms of food and drinks.\u00a0 They said one bottle per person and one individual snack serving.\u00a0 And that bags were checked over.\u00a0 I originally was going to wear my CamelBak and have that stuffed with my essentials (wallet, cell, etc.) but since they were checking bags and we were only allowed to bring in one bottle of water per person I figured my CamelBak wasn’t going to fly.<\/p>\n
Wrong. I should have brought it because they didn’t check bags or pockets or anything.\u00a0 And there were people walking around with huge coolers on wheels. Lesson learned!<\/p>\n
Going to the zoo was a big deal to me both morally and emotionally.\u00a0 Normally I stay away from zoos because animals taken out of their natural environments and put in cages for people to gawk at is not something that sits well with me.\u00a0 Yet I know some animals are still in existence only because they live in a zoo because their natural habitat is being destroyed by us butthead humans.\u00a0 I wrestled with going to the zoo for a long time.\u00a0 Since we live in the same county as the zoo, as residents we get 1\/2 price admission on Wednesdays. Because of that and because Columbus Zoo is rated the number 1 zoo in the country (sorry San Diego, your time is over!), I thought that maybe the experience would be better than my previous zoo encounters.\u00a0 You will not ever find me at a place like Seaworld though. Taking animals out of their environment AND having them perform stupid tricks for our enjoyment is not my idea of a good time.<\/p>\n
We went and spent all day there.\u00a0 I saw things that made me terribly sad.\u00a0 I saw things that made me angry and annoyed.\u00a0 And I saw things that I’ve never seen before. My patience and tolerance for people in my personal space was tested.<\/p>\n
We walked around for a long time before stopping for lunch.\u00a0 It was going on 2pm when we called for break time.\u00a0 We walked all over the park checking out the different eating stops and none of them had healthy options.\u00a0 Not one.\u00a0 That deserves it’s own post. <\/p>\n
Thankfully I packed us food and we decided to just head back to the car and eat. We popped the trunk and sat in that with our feet propped on the cooler which was sitting on the ground.\u00a0 We got strange looks from people who were leaving or going to their cars but whatever, I was happily stuffing my face!<\/p>\n
Sadly I didn’t get any pictures of lunch! We were so hungry and thirsty by this point, eating was first on my mind.\u00a0 But I can say that we had exactly the same thing we had when we went hiking, minus the vegan nuggets.\u00a0 We both had salads with homemade dressing, cantaloupe, and purple slaw and water.\u00a0 We did bring water in the zoo but both of us were being conservative with it.\u00a0 We didn’t want to go through it too quickly and I didn’t feel like running to the bathroom every five minutes.<\/p>\n
After lunch we went back in to see the other half of the zoo.\u00a0 We brought two water bottles in with us and drank a little more liberally.\u00a0 I was starting to get a wee headache by the end only because I didn’t take in enough water.<\/p>\n
Even though we have a ton, no pictures of animals because posting pics of animals in cages makes me feel icky.\u00a0 Instead here’s us!<\/p>\n
Several people make comments like, “Oh if only I had a gun right now….” or “Great target!”<\/p>\n People, mostly men, talking to the animals saying asshole things like, “Hi Mr. Alligator! You would make a great pair of boots and a belt!”<\/p>\n People encouraging their children to bang on the glass, make animals noises at the animals (like howling at wolves), and chase the geese and ducks walking around the park.<\/p>\n Then I had the great pleasure of witnessing a man start dancing around and making noises like a monkey when the male gorilla (who weights close to 400lbs) came by the glass. It was at this point I realized that some of us haven’t evolved at all.\u00a0 It was indeed a zoo of ridiculous human behavior. People watching at the zoo just screams sociology or psychology thesis.<\/p>\n We rocked the zoo until we couldn’t any longer.\u00a0 Plus we had to get home to feed and take care of Rocks.<\/p>\n<\/a>What bothered me even more than the animals was other people’s behavior.\u00a0 I got to witness:<\/p>\n