sloth bear in need of a trim

orangutan: like me most days, trying to hide his hair

Today was a Bad Hair Day at the Woodland Park Zoo. I know this because I visited the zoo this morning to see the new exhibit of warthogs and warty pigs. The pigs had been marketed as bunyon-covered beasts with mohawks. When we finally found our way to their digs, I realized that the pigs’ bad hair had been oversold, but that plenty of other animals suffered from tonsorial neglect.

The zoo trip was part of a plan my husband and I committed to in early June to get out of the house once a week and visit new places or return to ones we hadn’t seen in a while. Choosing destinations would be easy, since often we’re both homebodies, spending time with other people or working on our own projects most days of the week. Summer day trips sounded like a good idea.

warthog with shaggy mane

warty pigs

The first week we were to carry out the plan, the rain came down in torrents on our official “date day” and neither of us wanted to set foot outside.  Week two we had to clean and cook for a dinner party.  Finally, week three arrived, the sun shone, and we prepared for our first outing (by making a snack).  We decided to start small, stay close to home, kind of like the animals we saw. Admittedly today’s experience was not what one would call an “escape,” especially as we wasted a long time in Seattle traffic. But now we can plan for longer, more adventuresome trips:  downtown Seattle, the Seattle Center, Tacoma? Who knows where this crazy ride will end. Close to home, I expect.

It should be obvious from this that we need a lot more practice to master  the concept of “getaways” and, unfortunately, the zoo animals can offer little guidance about this, although one volunteer docent said the keepers were watching the warty pigs to make sure they weren’t  burrowing their way to freedom.