HIPPO, HIPPO, HOORAY... the Dallas Zoo

Only, the Hippos aren't there yet, They're coming soon... But maybe next time?

Woo, the Dallas Zoo! Opened in 1888, it's the oldest and largest Zoo in Texas and even has a Monorail!
Originally the Zoo wasn't even part of our trip to Dallas.. but since we had a few hours to waste before Zero Gravity opened and ended up riding the DART right past the zoo anyways, we stopped in for a quick lap around the place. As if I was going to complain about visiting a zoo... ha! Its actually a decent sized Zoo and had an entire area blocked off during our visit... So new Hippos aside, there would still be much to see for a future trip, yup.

Woo! a new Zoo credit, the Dallas Zoo!

Zoo Map.. and stuff.
The entire area in the top left was blocked off for a private event while Deka and I visited.
(but they were selling tickets at a reduced rate because of it)

LAME!
No Monorail for meeee :(
(They had a couple of power outages with the system with 2 or 3 incidents involving trains stuck on the open beam for hours at a time and needing the local fire department to help in evacuations... Hmmm, sounds familiar)
((Oh yeah, I was the driver during that!))
Oh right.. There are also animals here!

Just inside the gate is a display of Macaw's and stuff...

And some Aldabra Tortoise.

But more importantly... LEMUR ISLAND!
Aww, a Black-and-White Ruffed Lemur

Annddd the ever-so-bouncy, Ring-Tailed Lemur
<3 :D :D :D <3

Inside the Herpetarium.

Where we found this...
Finally, an actual albino alligator!

 And a Rhinoceros Iguana

The Lappet-faced Vulture came over to us to say hello.

Aww... a Cougar, er Mountain Lion, or is it a Puma, wait no.. its a Panther?
Meh, all the same...

Quack... quack?!
Maannn, look at this duck!

A mass of Reticulated Giraffe...

And some awesome African Penguin's.. doing their thing.

This... Sassy Cheetah.

Ugh, and some Lorikeets... :/

 Giant Anteater

 :O a Nile Crocodile

This... Kangaroo

A Grant's Zebra, uh, the smallest of Zebra?
Annddd....

 Mira mira mira, elefante, elefante!
(never gets old)

Oh man, Also, I met this GOAT at the petting zoo!

I also noted on the map something listed as "Safari Express Train" but it turned out to be this...
That as required by ALL Zoo's it seems...

Drove around these...
'Giants of the Jurassic'
Yaayyy more fake Dino's and stuff.
(Yeah, we skipped it)

And there is also an Endangered Species Carousel with this rather concerned Gorilla.

Also... While it was closed.. I still took a few photos of the Monorail :)
(that's actually pretty difficult to photograph)

The beam.. and such

And...I believe this is the station for it.

Woo, uh, the Dallas Zoo!
and stuff.

Its a pretty nice place and for sure worth checking out if in the city of Dallas.
(plus... Hippos are coming soon!!!)
((also, I had no idea there was an Aquarium Downtown until I was looking up info on the Zoo to make this post... Oops, next time!))

DARTing around Dallas

Well, uh, with a free half-day to spend in Dallas... What better way to spend it than riding around on the DART, the Dallas Area Rapid Transit. It's the largest light rail system in the US and covers nearly 100 miles of track. Woo, lets go!

Umm... the DART!
And uh, Fountain Place, the fifth tallest building in Dallas.

The DART's Kinki Sharyo, Super LRVs light rail vehicles

(Kinki Sharyo also made MBTA's Green Line cars <3)

Inside the car... With its trendy hanging Bike Racks

Map of the DART
(also showing the Trinity Railway Express, TRE commuter rail line and the soon-to-open street car)

A Green Line car heading towards Buckner

Oh and look.. We got off at some random station. Hmm somewhere down the Westmoreland end of the Red Line... Wonder why?

Also... this.
This is a thing :\
(in Deep Ellum)

The 2015 Southwest Fall Festival

Woo, uh, a fair!

The Southwest Fall Festival

After selling gourmet macaroni and cheese in Windermere one night, I made my way down the street to the fair. I didn't ride anything.. I only went to take a few photos.
(but in the past I've ridden the drop tower and orbiter here)

Woo.. fair food... and things.

Chance Wheel

Mulligan Sea Ray

Orbiter

Round-Up that had a pretty neat light package including some pretty epic strobe-lights. 

Wisdom Tornado

The SBF Drop Zone is now covered in LED's and looked rather nice.

Musik Express had been half converted to LED... The parts they updated looked lovely, now just to finish the job.

Ali Baba

Carousel

Oh, and that Dragon Wagon that I've now seen like 10 times...
(And still haven't even tried to ride..haha)

Uh, Midway Games

Quack... quack?!

Mr. Pig wants you to feed him your trash.. and stuff.

And look, its uh, me?
Woo.