Gakusei Travels

Zoo Pals

Today we decided to go to the zoo. Work has been super busy and tiring so I wanted to do something relatively lighthearted and childish. Washington D.C.’s zoo is part of the Smithsonian, so entrance was actually free, which was so nice because I think back at home, entrance to the local zoo is pretty expensive. It was a fun, cheap way to spend the day and I went with two friends.

From where I stay at, the zoo was kind of a distance away. It took about an hour by metro. And of course today, one of the lines of the metro was down, which meant that the train would run every fifteen minutes instead of its usual 5-7ish minute cycle. It was pretty annoying because now the trains were more crowded than usual. I also think today there was a hockey game, so several fans were riding the metro as well.

When we did finally make it, we spent a few hours at the zoo. I was glad that the weather was relatively nice. It was sunny but not too overly hot. To me there’s nothing worse than visiting the zoo when the sun is beating on your neck and the animals themselves are hiding because it’s too hot. It was like that when I went to the Los Angeles Zoo back in 2023. But due to the relatively nice weather today, the zoo was fairly crowded today with many families and small kids. I expected this, but it was so annoying at times, because many parents kept running people over with their strollers and wagons.

Initially, we really wanted to see the Pandas, because they recently returned to the zoo. We followed the signs up the Asia Trail where we saw the Asian Elephants, sun bears, red pandas and a few other animals. There were these cute sea otters that were peacefully sleeping in the sun. They had found the perfect spot to nap while still remaining in view for guests to take their pictures. Now, when we got to the pandas, the line to see them was ridiculously long. We tried to look to see how far the line extended, and we couldn’t even see the end nor the Pandas. There was really no order either nor any staff guiding people. It just wasn’t even worth waiting for.

It took us a couple hours to walk the entire zoo. We looked through the small mammals house and the ape house. One of my friends m was not feeling reptiles, so we just skipped the reptile house lol. It wasn’t really hurting my feelings either because I’m not a fan of snakes and lizards. One of my favorite animals since I was a kid has always been the elephants, but another I actually love are the meerkats. The Lion King has been one of my favorite movies, and Timon was probably my favorite character. Every time I see them, especially when they stand up, it just reminds me of that scene from The Lion King 1 1/2 and I just chuckle to myself.

A couple things did throw me off about the Zoo. One was the lack of bathrooms. The bathrooms for some reason were really spread out across the zoo. I would just think with so many kids coming in there’d be more bathrooms lol. The other thing that threw me off was that the zoo was extremely hilly. We didn’t really notice it at first when we entered, cause it was all down hill but leaving was brutal T^T

Trying to climb back up hill to leave the zoo at the end was lowkey terrible. My hamstrings and my thighs were burning so bad. I checked my apple watch at the end of the day and I maxed out at over 19K steps, majority of which came from the around the time we were at the zoo. One thing I was glad about was the fact that I didn’t have to deal with pushing a stroller, because some of the parents seemed to be struggling.

In the end, it was a fun time at the zoo. I bought a stuffed animal lemur from the gift shop. It reminded me of King Julian from Madagascar so how could I not get it? I also couldn’t find a meerkat so I went with the second best lol. After we left the zoo we grabbed a quick lunch before heading the opposite direction on the metro to the Wharf.

Mardi Gras Celebration

Apparently today, down at the Wharf, they were doing a parade and celebration for Mardi Gras. Since we were by the zoo, we had to go to the literal opposite side of D.C. to get there and the metro was so annoying. One of the lines still wasn’t working so the trains were coming in fifteen minute increments. At one point, the trains were so crowded that the three of us couldn’t get off the train in time. We ended up riding past our stop and had to get off and turn back around. It was super annoying.

When I was in Japan, I felt like people just knew how to navigate smoother. When the doors would open, people would line up on the sides to leave the middle open for people exiting the train. Those exiting the train moved quickly so the next round of passengers could enter before the doors closed. They just don’t do that in D.C. and everyone rushes the doors making for traffic and confusion. We almost got caught in the door several times throughout the day because of this. I’m just glad we never got separated at any point. The train system is one of the many things I miss all the time about being in Tokyo. It was less of a headache.

We ended up meeting our friend and his fiancée at the Wharf. It was very crowded, so initially we couldn’t see much of the parade. I somehow still managed to catch a pair of beads though haha. We eventually managed to push to the front. It was pretty cool with small floats, dancers and marching bands performing. I’ve never been to New Orleans before, so I’m sure nothing could compare to the real thing, but it was a fun experience with my friends. One friend suggested that we should plan a girls trip for Mardi Gras one year and I would totally be down to do so.

Unfortunately though, since the place was so packed and we weren’t really prepared, every restaurant was booked. We didn’t stay too long down there and ended up leaving to go to a bar closer to home before hanging out at our apartments for the rest of the evening. By then the temperature had dropped and it grew really cold. Overall, the day was pretty fun and it was nice to get out after working all week.