Just when we were about to give up and just eat whatever we could find at the zoo, we stumbled onto a nice little bagel shop in a shopping center. A cinnamon raisin bagel toasted with butter, please! Wonderful...it just hit the spot.

They had a posted schedule, and it appeared it would be another half hour, and we barely had time to make our meeting with Jen. I called to let her know we'd be late, and she offered to pick us up. About that time another bus pulled in - so much for their schedule.

We hung out for a few minutes while Jen and her daughter caught up with us. Like I said, parking is available, but getting a space isn't always easy.

I gave her a call to tell here where we were waiting, saying I would be the gal wearing a blue top with penguins on it, next to a guy in a blue Hawaiian shirt - what a pair!
Yay, the long-awaited meeting. Jen is a warm, down to earth lady, who was in "mama mode" that day. She had her lovely daughter with her, who added an interesting perspective on our activities. We had a great time looking at the animals and reptiles and watching Sparky the sea lion perform for a packed arena. It was a picture perfect day, but it began to get hot in the bright sunshine.
It's lunch time. There was a decent snack bar with a good selection of the typical zoo foods, burgers, hot dogs, pop corn, nachos and of course, ice cream. We enjoyed lunch where we talked blogging, compared notes about the differences in our weather, and shared pet stories - hubby and I are never lacking for weird pet stories.
You can only ask so much of an 8-year old, so they left after our visit to the Como Town amusement park.
Afterward, hubby and I walked through the many rooms of the conservatory, a building filled with all sorts of unusual plant life. This room was filled with ferns of all kinds, including the largest fiddlehead I've ever seen.
It was a lot of fun to meet fellow blogger, Jen, face to face, and enjoy some beautiful Minnesota weather. There was so much more to see but, alas, not enough time.