On Labor Day I went to the National Zoo with some friends from church. The weather was perfect, the zoo was free, and we had a great day. We walked around for almost 6 hours and were worn out by the end but we saw a lot. My favorite animal to see was a tie between the panda bears and the jelly fish. Jelly fish? Jelly fish. They were amazing!!! Just look at the picture below. I seriously could have watched them for hours.

Sweet looking lion

The only thing the zoo was missing was giraffes. Giraffes are my favorite animal and I was really looking forward to getting to see these strange looking creatures with their awkward heights, bony knees, big eyelashes and purple tongues. How could the National Zoo not have giraffes! Even the Abilene zoo has giraffes!

Check out those brilliant colors

Sometimes going to the zoo can make me sad that the animals are stuck in cages and not able to roam as much as they would be in the wild. This trip was no different, but some of the signs in the zoo addressed this issue and said that many of these animals are more healthy and well fed than most animals in the wild and they are treated very well. I guess that's ok...

Panda bear- they are so cute

The pandas were also really fun to watch. They were very playful and it was cool to know that they are they only pandas in the country.What is funny is that they are on loan from China. It was funny to hear that the US and China are working on a new lease for the panda bears as if they were a rental house. Their 10 year lease just ran out and they are trying to keep them. I hope they get to stay. Their habitat was so huge that it was hard to find them unless they came inside (and they did). As soon as the pandas came in people crammed into see them and the crowd was super excited!

Beautiful jelly fish- these were my favorite thing to watch

Ladies of the group, riding home on the metro

I have to give the credit for these pictures to another party member not pictured. Thanks K. for sharing and for taking some great pics.