Flying Sea Lion

It is cold out, but our hearts are warm. We got out and about together on this eve of Valentine’s Day. The plan was to drive to Forest Park and then walk from one heated building to the next and keep warm that way. We started at the art museum, where we were both offered paper hearts to place below our favorite artwork. We both picked “The Plaza after the Rain” by Paul Cornoyer. It would have been nice to lose ourselves in the halls of that museum for a while, but we had steps yet to pace out.

Our next stop was the zoo, where we watched the sea lions and Kali the polar bear both frolic in very cold water, just not together. None of them seemed to mind the temperature though. Kali had been given a red ice heart that had already seen too much love by the time that we arrived. Work is underway demolishing the rest of the old bear pits, for a new Grizzly bear enclosure. Once complete, it and Kali’s cage will both flank the penguins. I wonder what they will think of the neighborhood, the next time that they do one of their winter penguin walks and I wonder what the bears will feel about penguins on parade.

After the zoo, we stopped at the boathouse for some hot chocolate with a little something and some lunch. Next up was the visitor’s center, where we had a nice conversation about Pileated woodpeckers with the two ladies manning the desk there. The history museum was mobbed. In addition to the usual Saturday afternoon kid’s oriented activities, the “1875” exhibit is closing and there is a new show called “Spies, Traitors and Saboteurs”. Having not seen “Spies” yet, we went into this exhibit. It was also crowded and a bit depressing too. I had to bail from it early, but then we both walked back to the car, around the always beautiful and now ice-covered Grand Basin. Lovers were seated there, together on the cold white stone of one of the bridges, posing for their wedding photos.