Friday 19 April, Washington Zoo

Well, this was a day full of contrasts. A worrying start as Nance did not arrive on time. What to do as I have no phone to use at present? Ahh, grab my IPad and contact someone via FB who might have her number. Message relayed back that she was 20 minutes away. That is Washington traffic for you!! So we set off for the Zoo and the instructions were not correct so we went over the bridge, into DC and back into Arlington twice before we struck it lucky and found the correct exit. At the Zoo we managed to finally meet up with Widdletigger and Juliet as well as KittyKam and her husband Ron. Oh yes, and KittyKam had a gift for me - Zoo bag and map (check), postcard and fridge magnet from Delaware (check), and what's this a tin of sardines??? Omg! Jacci does have a lot to answer for!

The Zoo itself was excellent with only one problem, the Giant Pandas did not cooperate and so we did not see them. Never mind there is always Edinburgh later in the year!!! We saw a variety of animals and the Orang Utang wearing the "LeggyDew" blanket was a major hit! The two males lions were magnificent as only that species can be! I also loved the Shadow Leopard and it was awesome to see the way this cat climbed when the keeper fed it some fish. It was also great to see Juliet's response to some of the animals, she certainly seemed to enjoy herself. I bought a few fridge magnets, a passion of mine, but I have filled up the doors of one fridge already!! Never mind, I will find somewhere to put them. We had lunch in the Panda Cafe but still no Pandas!! The group broke up at about 3.30 pm to head back to our cars and then onto the various directions. It was great to meet some more web cammers and I will certainly meet more on this trip!

Nancy dropped me off at my friends in Woodsboro and she faced a bit of a drive home but I was so grateful for her dropping me off. I had 15 minutes to freshen up as we were heading to their daughter's place, in Inwood WV, for the weekend!! That meant driving for another hour and it was through very heavy rain but no tornadoes!! We made it safely and I was so pleased to see the two siamese cats, Callie and Apollo. They are both beautiful and fairly friendly!