Ten minutes have passed, the gates are open and in we go. Now, where is that map? It's always strange to us to learn our way around a new zoo as we are so familiar with our own. First up are seals!!! In this post, plan on us focusing on animals we DON'T have in Dallas. These two are playing and having a great time as we peek in on them. There are 3 more in the tank but somehow, I get a great shot.Into the Natural Encounter building and the first thing we see is this exhibit and look how these turtles have stacked themselves --- UNDER WATER. I can't stop giggling. Just look at those feet.
Otters are at play as well and another exhibit has us looking all around. There is a sloth (that we can barely see), several birds, some golden lion tamarins, and these guys. One appears right in front of us and we stand in awe for quite awhile. It is a Pygmy Marmoset and I want one. Just kidding, of course, but dang is he cute. They are from the tropical forests of South America and is the world's smallest monkey. They are super interesting to learn about, but sadly are declining in the wild -- perhaps from people like me wanting one. Ugh.The very next habitat has another small lovely. The Harris' Antelope Squirrel reminds me of the size of a chipmunk. He is right down by our feet and oh so cute.
A tank of Moon Jellies is right before we exit the building. They look so beautiful -- so deceptive.
The elephants are not out yet, as it's pretty chilly. I have a coat and mittens on due to the temps. However, unlike Dallas, we can peek into the overnight areas and find that a baby elephant is getting his bath and medical checkup before going outside.Continuing on, this jaguar walks right past us and I try to grab a picture, but its not stopping to pose. A little further down is an enclosure that has a capybara with a tapir. He must be related to an anteater, right? Nope - closer to horses and rhinos. Who knew.
A quick stop at the chimpanzees and we have to smile as they all have blankets and are either sitting with them or trying to get into the hammocks and cover up. I told you it was chilly out. Onto the white rhinos. I really wish we would have them again in Dallas. What a crazy fun animal. I think they are close in size to hippos, but still larger. Look close below, there are two in the habitat and one in the other area waaaaaay back.
Love the light caught in the tail here.
A mixed-species enclosure has giraffes, ostrich, and zebra, much like we do in Dallas, BUT, we can't get this close to the animals unless feeding giraffes. These ostrich are just as curious about us as we are about them. The stare down continues for quite awhile until we give up and move on to discover a nearby ocelet taking a nap. I really miss having the cats in Dallas.
And a cougar out for a walk. He literally went on top of where we were standing by following the limb.
Lemurs!!! Love lemurs so much. This is a new breed to me though -- Coquerel's Sifaka Lemur. They are from Madagascar - a country that is on my bucket list.
The orangutan sits and shares an eye conversation with Mister. I love their eyes. So much. This is Kelly --- she just oozes gentleness.
Flamingos in the sunlight --- yes, we have them too but they always make me smile.
Two last stops in the Birdhouse and the Reptile building before calling this visit done. I think we covered the whole zoo in three hours (with the exception of the Children's Zoo) and have thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. If you like birds --- this place has a ton of them and they are gorgeous.I mention to Mister about a place I read about on Atlas Obscura - I think he'd like it -- and off we go to the Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern. Parking there is very limited and we have to park quite a distance away. It's okay, the day has become beautiful and I'm up to it. Hi there Houston. FYI - both the zoo and the cistern are dang close to downtown.
Some back info on this next place. "The Buffalo Bayou Park Cistern is a former drinking water reservoir built in 1926 for the City of Houston. As one of the city’s early underground reservoirs, it supported the municipal water system’s goals of fire suppression (water pressure) and drinking water storage. After operating for decades, an irreparable leak was discovered and after a few years, the reservoir was decommissioned in 2007.
In 2010, the City of Houston was sourcing vendors to demolish the Cistern. At the same time, Buffalo Bayou Partnership was developing the $58 million Buffalo Bayou Park project and “discovered” the site. Recognizing the historical and architectural significance of the highly unusual space, Buffalo Bayou Partnership with the City of Houston worked to take over development and maintenance of the space.
BBP restored and re-purposed the Cistern into a magnificent public space to house an ambitious program of changing art installations. Houston-based architecture and engineering firm Page was charged with designing a ground-level entry structure to help transition visitors from the outside into the Cistern and making improvements to the shelf on the perimeter of the space to create a six-foot-wide, ADA compliant walkway with guardrails. In May 2016, Buffalo Bayou Partnership opened the Cistern to the public.
Fun Facts:
- 87,500 square feet or the size of 1.5 football fields
- 221– 25-foot tall, slender concrete columns span the space
- Holds 15 million gallons of water when functioning at capacity
- 8-inch thick concrete roof and tapered concrete walls range from 8 inches at the top to 18 inches at the bottom
- 17-second echo
- SWA Landscape Architect Kevin Shanley first called the reservoir “the Cistern” because it reminded him of the ancient Roman cisterns under Istanbul
We discover that reservations are required -- however, they are not sold out and we can buy tickets. I will tell you, though, that this part is very confusing as information comes only upon asking questions. At any rate, we get tickets for the tour starting in 10 minutes and are soon on our way.It is dimly lit inside and the tour requires you to walk about 1/4 of a mile around the cistern. Stopping to let our eyes adjust to the dark, my camera comes out.
As we walk around, the guide has a flashlight to show various features of the cistern.
There is still water in here. They keep it at a depth of about 4-6 inches for reasons of maintenance and aesthetics. At one corner, there is a light that comes on when someone is using the periscope to view the interior without a tour. In fact, you can see it online as well. Here is your LINK. Give it a go, it's pretty amazing. When the light comes on, you can see that the reflection in the water makes it look deeper than it is. At this point, our guide asks us all to scream and then go silent all together. I do an audio/video so that you can hear how incredible the sound is and how long it lasts.At the end of the tour, he turns all the lights off and then the periscope light comes on. Drat.
However, the thing he wants to show us is that right at the center of the room, if he shines the light just perfect, almost there . .
Now!!! Wow, what an effect the reflection on the water gives. Fabulous!! Straight on and then at an angle. (Enlarge these photos -- trust me.)
What a wonderful way to spend $5.00 and half an hour of your life. Now, I want to go to Turkey and see theirs. Something to remember, though, is that this is the only one like this in America - period.
Above the building is another great view of the city.
As we walk back to our car --- it's across this picture on the other side of the river --- here is the view from the bridge. This is Buffalo Bayou
I have now declared it to be very hungry in my tummy. Mister locates a brewery about half an hour away and it has pizza. Perfect. The Southern Yankee is owned by the Porter family and we meet daughter Sydney and mom, Christina during our visit. It turns out that the Porters feel that having a great "porter" on tap at all times is required and I truly do agree. Additionally, it truly is great. One of the best its been a pleasure to drink. The bar top is very fun as well. It contains barley in various stages of roasting laid out and then covered with glass. Love it so much.
Along with the brewery, they Porter's have a food truck outside that is called SoYank Pizza and that manages to fill my other needs.An hour later, we are back on the road and making our way home. The day has been super fun and I think we need several more little trips to Houston for play. There is still a lot to see and do both there and along the way. I'm adding it to the list.
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