atlanta zoo - 06.28.06

we got to the airport for our 1-something p.m. flight.
the line inside folded on itself at least 8 times.
the line outside folked on itself just once,
but was still super long.
alHamdullilah, they put us on another flight,
but it was SEVEN hours later.
so, we decided to go to the zoo.

we hopped on the MARTA
and when to five points.
ate at johnny rockets
– if i had known they had boca soy burgers
i would’ve eaten there a long time ago –
and took the 97 bus to the atlanta zoo.

what can i say?
it was a zoo
with animals in different types of cages and pens
whether open air or air conditioned, glass, net or metal.
plus the animals’ work day ended at 5:30PM
so they they were just chillin
and not too interested in entertaining the zoo visitors.

the otters, however, were very enthusiastic.

they must’ve been getting some treats on the side
because they came strait up to us
like they were expecting something.

my nickname is “koko”,
so i had to take a picture of this koko bustard bird.

(“bustard”, ishaq, not “buster”)

tangent:
speaking of “koko”,
do you remember that book called “koko”

or a famous zoo gorilla that could read named “koko”?

back to the zoo:
we did see some gorillas in the smog.
it looked like there were two or three babies, too.

the pandas, lun-lun and yang yang, were in the chillin in the AC.
lun-lun came right up to us.

the zoo keeper was saying that she may be pregnant,
but they were unsure since she has a period of months
where the egg is just floating around.

we also saw a rhino, zebras, giraffe, gazelles,

a kimodo dragon, all types of birds,

lemurs and other monkeys,
lions, tigers and a clouded leopard,

and more, including two pandas named sanaa and rahmah.

we made it back to the airport by 6PM,
got our 4 pieces of luggage and 2 car seats out of storage.

sidebar:
if you don’t know,
the ATL airport has an interfaith prayer room.
end sidebar

ishaq, whose flight was originally at 10:30PM or so,
was able to make it onto our flight.
alHamdulillah, the girls went to sleep during the flight.
it was a wonderfully uneventful flight home to DC.

until we actually got home
and it stunk
and i had to get up in the middle of the night
and ask Allah for patience.
but that’s a whole ‘nother story.