Ice! Part 2: NC Museum of Life and Science
January 13, 2010
After seeing pictures of the frozen waterfall in the bear enclosure on the museum's animal department blog, younger son and I wanted to check it out ourselves so we headed there last Friday afternoon.
We asked at the front deck if the boardwalk to the outdoor animal section was open, and we were told that it was. I wanted to be sure before I walked all the way there since I'm still careful with my knee.
However, when we got there, the boardwalk was closed (I'm not complaining - it's a large museum so the people at the desk can't know everything that's going on!). The long way around the back, through another exhibit, was open, but that was far, far longer than I've walked since my surgery. In fact, we'd already walked farther than I usually walk at this point in my recovery. I asked younger son what he wanted to do. "Go see the ice!" he replied enthusiastically.
It was not prudent for me to walk that far.
Life's no fun if you're always prudent.
On the way to the bear exhibit...
The iced over sailboat pond
A view of the wetlands and the closed boardwalk.
A wolf in a sunny spot
I didn't think about the fact that the overlook with the really great view of the icy waterfall was on the flat part of the boardwalk, which, to our great disappointment, was also closed. I took this picture of the boardwalk from right next to the ribbon that marked the closure. When we turned around, three guys who worked there were watching us patiently. No, I wasn't going to cross the ribbon. I smiled and said, "Hello" as we passed. They mentioned that a bear was out near the other overlook.
This is the closest view we've ever gotten of a bear there. It almost made up for not getting a close view of the waterfall.
Here's a far away view...
...and here's a view zoomed and cropped.
For a really good view, you'll have to check out their blogs.
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