Skip to main content

Breakfast at the Zoo

The male panda
My husband and I went to “Breakfast at the Zoo” which is only open to FONZ (Friends of the National Zoo) and Smithsonian Associates members. I happen to be members of both.  The zoo is opened at 8:00 AM for this event for those who purchased tickets to the event, and they also offer special programs and children’s activities along with a very large and nice hot breakfast buffet.

This year I got VIP access tickets which gave us seating in the pavilion (general admission has seating on the lawn and the few tables set up) and access to the VIP buffet and if we had a child with us they would have gotten a gift bag. (I honestly think adults should get gift bags too or at least the person who purchased the tickets.)  The buffet this year had pastries, fresh fruit (I learned I don’t like star fruit), scrambled eggs, French toast, bacon, sausage and a hash browns.  It also included your standard breakfast beverages including mimosas for the adults.  Plus, since this was the VIP buffet they had an omelet station, so you could have fresh omelets.  Overall the breakfast was very good.

The Caracal
They had variety of special keeper talks, animal feeding and animal enrichment events.  My husband didn't want to go see the sea lion release.  Instead we went to see the small-clawed otter enrichment (which was feeding them by hiding food in their yard). The little otters are all named after food except poor Kevin.  The otters ran out into the yard and started looking for their food and doing fun otter antics.  Since the zoo was only open to zoo members at that time we got to enjoy many of the exhibits including the pandas without huge crowds.  We also finally found were the zoo was hiding the caracal which is a cute cat.   

This was a good way to start off our day. We actually drove to the zoo instead of taking the metro, since they were doing major track work. The drive to the zoo wasn't too bad and we found parking easily enough, and it was free since we are FONZ members.  I like breakfast at the zoo it is a fun time, maybe one year we’ll take our niece and nephew they would probably have fun. 
Labels:

Comments

  1. Terry and Carol9/22/2013 9:30 PM

    Sounds like a great event. Especially with VIP access. We did a members' breakfast at the Smithsonian castle many years ago. It was nice too.

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Cobwebs Everywhere

On October 7 th , I did a studio spooky session with Coralinx Cosplay .   The central theme of this shoot was a pretty goth girl who had a fondness for spiders and decorating with cobwebs, making it a perfect Halloween session.   Note: Cobwebs are defined as abandoned or old spiderwebs that have collected dust.   Many cobwebs are the result of comb-footed spider (i.e., black widows) that make irregularly shaped webs.   Spiderwebs are active structures built to catch prey.   (Source: Western Exterminator Company) For these sessions, I used: Photography Equipment Other Equipment Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Westcott FJ400 2 Phottix Strobes 2 strip boxes 2 rectangular soft boxes 2 c-stands 3 light stands Backdrop stand Black seamless 2 Westcott silicon gels Tether cable Laptop Laptop holder Sandbags A-clamps Spyder Color checker Fake cobwebs Table ...
Post a Comment
Read more

2025 Year in Review and Looking Forward to 2026

This year was a bit interesting especially since during the day, I’m a government employee, which resulted in a lot of stress and a 42-day furlough.  I didn’t attend as many cosplay events with the D.C Cosplay group, now Costume and Camera, as I normally would have, due to schedule conflicts.  However, I traveled up to Poughkeepsie, New York for two photo events, one of which I was a featured photographer.  I attended two conventions, one of which didn’t turn out as expected and the other just confirmed my decision to take a break from it.  Though happily I did a lot of studio work this year, which I enjoyed.  But on the other hand, I lost my dear “studio supervisor”, my dog Teddy.  He liked to great clients and then “supervise” while lying/sleeping in his bed. I also started to work on the business side of my photography work, by investing in a Customer Relationship Management (CRM) site to manage bookings, schedules, and payments. No more trying to juggle...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spooky in the Morning

On October 5 th , I did an on-location spooky session with Rebecca at Claude Moore Park.   The theme was Victorian ghost; however, it is hard to be a ghost at 9:30 in the morning on a bright sunny day.   I did my best to get a spooky look. For these sessions, I used: Photography Equipment Other Equipment Cannon R6 24-105 mm Lens Transmitter/Trigger 2 Cannon Speed lights 1 30-inch umbrella Light stand Assistant Smoke Genie The setup The set up was relatively easy.  I mounted a Canon speed light on a light stand with an umbrella.  My assistant then held the light in the appropriate spots as we made our way around the park to different locations. Camera Settings This session was held outdoors in bright morning sun and was intended to look spooky, so I tried to keep the images dark.  Thus, I used ISO 100, which is great for sunny conditions.  I wanted to maintain a soft background as much a...
Post a Comment
Read more