Last Thursday, Katherine and I decided to spend the day at the Columbus Zoo.

In the middle of February.

It ended up being a great idea, as we literally had the entire zoo to ourselves for the whole day. We saw maybe two other visitors our entire visit, and the quiet and still zoo was a massive departure to any zoo experience I’ve ever had. (And I live pretty much five minutes right down the road from the Columbus zoo and am a frequent visitor.)

An added, and unexpected, bonus was that all the animals were relaxed and more than ready and curious to greet us at almost every exhibit and enclosure. Most of them came running the moment we entered the area.

This large Amur tiger immediately came over and tried to rub her head against mine through the glass. An immensely impressive and beautiful animal.

So for $12 dollars total, we essentially rented out a zoo for a day.

One of the first animals we saw was this pair of orphaned brown bear brothers that were enjoying the snow by wrestling all over their enclosure.

You can find more pictures on  my flickr.

josh