Sunday, September 3, 2017 - Twin Cities - Minnehaha Falls and Minnesota Zoo

We set the alarm for 5:30a.m. this morning with the goal of seeing the sun rise over Minnehaha Falls.  The trees didn't let us see a traditional sunrise, but seeing the colors from the first lights of the day on the falls was beautiful.

As we walked down the path along the river below the falls, we came across someone sleeping in a hammock on an island.  I would imagine it would be nice fall asleep to the sound of the waterfall.

Afterwards, we came back to the hotel for breakfast and to get ready for the day and made it to the Minnesota Zoo right around opening time at 9:00 a.m.  This is our favorite zoo of all time and so we loved seeing all of our favorite exhibits like the grizzly coast, the Tiger Lair (with a baby tiger), and the Minnesota Trail.  Plus they added a temporary exhibit, Kangaroo Crossing and added black bears to the Minnesota trail.

Grizzly Coast

Northern Trail

What did this squirrel do to all the prairie dogs in this exhibit?

Are the people watching the tigers or are the tigers watching the people?

Minnesota Trail

Tropics Trail

One hungry spider, One unfortunate butterfly

We had lunch at the Zoo.  They seem to have expanded their food court and even brought in Erbert's and Gerbert's which was quite tasty.  

And then we hoped to ride the monorail, something we hadn't done in years, only to find that although the tracks are still up, it doesn't appear to be running anymore.  An article in the Star Tribune from 2013 indicates it stopped running around Labor Day of that year due to low ridership and financial shortfalls.  I always thought it was a great way to see the expansive exhibits of the northern trail and to get a great vantage point of all the turtles in the ponds on a sunny, warm day.

We then had some time to relax at the hotel before walking over to the Green Mill for dinner (which shares a parking lot with the hotel).