Point Defiance Zoo

I have been unhappily busy with work, so I apologize for the long gap between posts. This is a long overdue entry but I figured it should see the light of day.

As a little getaway for the 25th anniversary of my birth, the boyfriend and I took a little trip to the Seattle area. Our main destination was Point Defiance Zoo. I was lured here by the clouded leopards. I learned about them online and was fascinated by these creatures. Clouded leopards are an endangered species that are found in Southeast Asia. These cats are known for their distinctive dark clouded spots on their dark yellow fur. They have relatively short legs and large paws. Their long tails help them balance while climbing and hunting on trees. The number of clouded leopards have declined in the wild due to poachers, thus breeding programs have been founded to keep the species alive. Clouded leopards are known to be friendly and playful creatures in captivity and you can definitely see this in the leopards at Point Defiance Zoo.

We also spent a lot of time with these guys. Both tigers were born within months of each other, but are not brothers. Berani is a Malayan tiger and Dumai is a Sumatran tiger. We had the opportunity to see them play fight -

Now , I normally have a hard time at zoos. Especially at Disney World. I hate seeing the animals out of their natural environment and I hate seeing them confined in cages. But seeing these guys playing so happily and at ease makes me feel a little better about their living environment. It's a very gray area. Animals in zoos are protected, and most are in conservation programs, however you can see how unhappy most of the animals are. They are pacing, and they look uncomfortable. Animals in the wild are living in their natural environment but are hunted by humans (and other animals, but hey, that's the circle of life!). I guess you can't have it all. It's either one or the other.

 

Bonus picture of the jellyfish!

(courtesy of yours truly via Instagram)

Backstreet's Back!

I know I've been neglecting this blog for a little while, but I promise I have a good excuse! I celebrated my 25th birthday a few days ago, and we went on a little pre-birthday trip to the States. I can't wait to share my experience at the Point Defiance Zoo! But first, before the pre-birthday trip, I had quite an exciting event to attend...

I am so excited to tell you all that my childhood is complete! Last week I had the opportunity to attend my first Backdtreet Boys concert. This is something I've been waiting for my entire life. As young as I can remember (probably at the age of 7), I've loved BSB. They were the boy band of my childhood (*Nsync could not compare to them). I remember singing to their songs on top of my lungs in my room. I love their songs, their voices, their personalities, their choreography, and I must tell you, to this day, the boys have still got it. They can still sing and dance like nobody else can. I still haven't gotten over it. It was amazing. Here are a couple photos from this glorious event...

 

(courtesy of yours truly via Instagram)

Afternoon Tea - Urban Tea Merchant

Hello! I hope everyone enjoyed their long weekend. May has been a blur, I can't believe the month is almost over. I took a much needed break over the weekend and visited Urban Tea Merchant with a friend. I love having high tea, but I've only been frequented two places in Vancouver; Adorabelle and the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel. This was a brand new tea salon for me, and I am quite satisfied with our tea service.

I chose Pink Flamingo, a green tea with crimson hibiscus blossoms. The tea was a pretty pale pink color with fruit overtones. My friend and I both chose the Petite Tea Service, which was $28. The other services were much too heavy for an afternoon snack. We each had a chicken salad cone, a cucumber & watercress sandwich, a curry egg salad sandwich, and a ham & arugula sandwich on our first tier. The chicken cone was the highlight. It was in the form of a mini ice cream cone but it was a delicious, savoury surprise. Next, we each had a scone. My friend had a sweet scone, and I had a savoury scone. I am usually not a fan of savoury scones, but this particular scone was not too savoury or dry. Although I couldn't really taste the flavour (our server did not bother to tell us what was being served), I enjoyed it. On the top tier, we had seasonal fruit, a chocolate dipped strawberry and a signature macaroon. The macaroon was one of the best I've had - and I've had macaroons from all over Montreal. This one was not too sweet or crumbly, it was just right. In my opinion, the price was steep for the amount of food in comparison to the other two services I've had in the past. When I asked our server to refill my teapot, she told me that they needed to prepare the tea by steeping it before bringing it out and I would receive a new teapot. I was unsure why she was explaining the process to me, but I was reluctant because I didn't want to wait for a new teapot. I had a feeling something was up but I agreed anyway. Well, I was right. She failed to tell me that it would cost me an extra $8 for the pot. I was not a happy customer when the bill came, but she was kind enough to correct it for me.

I don't think I would visit Urban Tea Merchant again - not because of the tea charge, but because I've had better tea service elsewhere. I will be visiting the Fairmont Vancouver Airport Hotel for afternoon tea again in the summer, so stay posted for that review!

(courtesy of yours truly via Instagram)

Hello Disneyland

We went to Disneyland everyday during our trip! I won't bore you with the details, here are some highlights...

(courtesy of yours truly via Instagram)

After seeing the Maleficent preview, I am even more excited for the movie. Angelina Jolie looks amazing as Maleficent; they really nailed it with the casting. Another thing we were super excited about - we managed to get fastpasses for Radiator Springs Racers - twice! Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was back up, we tried to go on it as much as we could but the queue has tripled since our last visit and it was broken down many times during our visit. We only went on Splash Mountain once due to LA's uncharacteristically cold weather, and we were soaked! A boat full of adults will do that to ya. In your bottom left is a new dessert Disney offers: Mickey's Kitchen Sink. There are about five flavours you can choose from. You get three scoops of ice cream and you get to keep the sink! It's a nice souvenir, and it's a good price ($11.99) in comparison to other sundaes. Lastly, our trip would not be complete without a Dole Whip Float. We love these, and unfortunately, others have discovered it in the past few years.. Never have we seen a line this long! For those of you who know Disneyland, the lineup wraps all the way around to Aladdin's Oasis. For us, it was quite worth it.


Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed my highlights as much as I enjoyed my trip...

Greetings from SoCal!

Hello everyone! 

We are currently in Anaheim. The weather is fair, there is a slight breeze throughout the day so it never gets too hot. The temperature rises during the afternoon for a few short hours but most of the time it's quite chilly. I'm beginning to think I packed for the wrong season! It's supposed to get warmer in the next couple of days so we'll see. 

We picked up our rental car straight from the airport when we arrived on Wednesday morning. Our first stop was the Citadel Outlets. Not one of my favourite outlets but we were able to grab some baby Bambi and Dumbo stuff animals for only $7. These guys are still $23 at Disneyland! What a steal. 

Next we headed to In N Out for lunch, then we stopped by the Outlets at the Orange. No haul here.  So we called it a day and headed to the Boiling Crab for some crayfish, shrimp and gumbo. 

...More later!