Morning Zoo and a New Brunch Spot

"There is a special koala event at the zoo," Mister says.  "Would you like to go?" I ask, knowing the answer already.  Off we go.  It is the last Saturday in August and members get in an hour earlier than everyone else.  The special koala event is for the members only.  Now it all makes sense, right?

The best part of early admission is that it is still cool enough outside for the other animals to be pretty active.  We are not here for an "entire zoo" day, just our activity and thus our direct route takes us past the primates.  They are just so busy that we have to stop a minute and watch.  Look how high up they are.  For some crazy reason they are looking for the sun instead of realizing that right now it's fairly cool out.  There will be plenty of sun later on.

I LOVE how the spider monkeys ALWAYS have their tail connected to help them out.  No matter what they do, it's another hand to them.

It's KOALA time.  Mister is sporting a smile a mile wide and these lovely creatures are awake and waiting for us.  Knowing how much they sleep, we are indeed lucky.  It's a wonderful meet and greet with the koalas and we stayed for over an hour learning all we could about them.  I'm sure most of it Mister already knew, but I learned a ton.

As we walk back towards the entrance (yes, we only came for the koalas today) a quick detour to see the cats.  These two are having a discussion over just who has rights to the nook.

On the way back from the zoo, we stop down at the Farmer's Market to see if by some miracle it is wonderful again.  Nope.  Grrrrr.  They truly ruined a spot we loved to go to.  Oh well.  As we are walking back to the car, I realize I'm kinda hungry and we peek into a new restaurant down by the market.   It is called Mudhen Meat and Greens and the first thing we see when we walk in is a large sign listing their products and then I spot taps.  It's only 11:30 but I would absolutely love a beer and I see that they have one of my favorites - Ballast Point Pineapple Sculpin.  Oh yum.  Mister gives me the nod and I order just like that.  Perhaps some food would be good too as we haven't eaten yet today.  It's yummy and if not for the fact that we likely won't come down to the market, would stop here often.  Dang market.