The Zoo

Last week, my office went on a private tour of the National Zoo. My boss is ranking member on the subcommittee that funds all of the Smithsonian museums, which includes the zoo. So we get really lucky and get hooked up with awesome tours. The director of the zoo and one of the zookeepers showed us around and we saw a lot of cool stuff. We got to see a baby kiwi bird and then feed an older kiwi bird, which was kind of gross since the lady told us that it was "like meatloaf" but looked super gross. But it was really cool too so it was worth the grossness in my hand.

My favorite parts of the tour were riding on golf carts so we could see a lot of the zoo in a short amount of time and also to see the hospital at the zoo where they take care of all of the animals. They showed us the tranquilizer guns (which I thought were awesome) and the operating rooms and also the recovery room. The recovery room was just a really big room with padded walls...creepy like a mental hospital but very cool. Here are some pictures from the adventure.

Here is my chief of staff's son, Liam, who makes everything a lot more fun
He thought it was so funny that he got to hold the tranq gun

Nate, Missy, me, Megan and MJ - most of the Simpson office
Just missing the boss man and our chief of staff
I really love my co-workers, they are awesome!

Don't I look like a giddy school child? I loved the kiwi bird

The cute little baby ape and his mom

Me, MJ, and Missy loving the golf carts

Exploring the new elephant house that will open next month

And of course, the famous pandas that just had to send their baby to China
(those Chinese have to steal everything, including our pandas)

Good job Mike for being on the subcommittee so we can go on fun tours! :)