and things went downhill from there

While friends we wish we could see are whooping it up at MFF in Chicago this weekend, atara and I are spending a few days off hanging around town. We plan to do some work around the house for at least part of this time off, but the past two days have been spent gallivanting about the town. Yesterday we ran around taking care of chores downtown, and then spent the afternoon at The Forks. I think it might be the first time we've been there since my brother moved away, so we were due for a visit.

Today we took in the new polar bear exhibit at the zoo.

One of the things that I've always been jealous of atara's camera for is its panorama mode. My new phone has a fairly decent camera in it now, and it has a passable panorama mode.


The critters were especially frisky with the cool weather.


Of course there are those who live beneath the weather, but they were also pretty active.


The wolves are only temporary guests at the zoo. Apparently, they are rather problematic and caused bit of a stir when they got busy one night and tunnelled into the polar bear exhibit. No permanent damage was done, but the wolves had pause to question their life choices.


And then there's, uh, these.

I touched nary a drop of liquor yesterday, but I woke up this morning with my head aching and all a-spin. Methinks a combination of the time change, and the fact that I slept in a bit late today has done bad things to my system. It's nothing that a bit more aspirin and coffee can't fix.

Now that I am finished with work this morning, I cleaned up a few more pictures from yesterday's trip to the zoo.

This is actually a shot looking toward town from the top of the parking deck down at The Forks. The city gives a nicer profile from the south and east than it does from the north and west. I think most cities tend to have a more picturesque side to them.

( A shitload more pics behind a cut. )