I went to the Milwaukee County Zoo today with Charlene. It’s been perhaps 20 years or more since I visited this zoo. My overall impression is that the staff have done a pretty incredible job maintaining and updating the facilities. I remember some of the facilities from when I was a child, but somehow they have managed to refresh and maintain them in great condition, which can’t be easy. Of all the exhibits, only the inside of the old pachyderm house seems like it needs some refreshing.

They had several brown bears, and after seeing one in this safe setting, I’m so glad I didn’t run across a Grizzly in Montana.

The hippo was also very impressive to me. He was in the water just on the other side of a piece of thick glass so you could get very close to him. The whole thing made me wonder how before the advent of firearms, relatively frail humans could survive in the midst of such large and dangerous beasts.