Isn't it ironic?

Yeah, yeah, another photo of Bethy on a camel...but wait a minute! They're in Seattle!

Ah, camels and evergreens. Point Defiance Zoo has camel rides for the serious bargain price of $5 apiece. Totally a deal. Bethy rode the best cared-for, healthiest camel I have ever seen. I asked if her camel was Arabian or Australian.

From Oklahoma, they said.

Well, alrighty then.

In the morning Thomas had said that he neither wanted to see tigers nor elephants. He wanted to see a plane. As in, get on the plane and go back to Dubai.

Too bad, kid, we're going to the zoo. It's a tough life.




Thomas enjoyed the zoo. His favorite is the tiger (he balked at riding the camel from Oklahoma for some reason) and we came around a corner to see a large male specimen stalking and prowling back and forth on his enormous paws. Thomas yelled "tiger!!" and pelted towards the giant cat. About six feet from the glass panic suddenly crossed his face, he put on the brakes, and backpedaled frantically, looking exactly like something out of a Bugs Bunny cartoon. Apparently from somewhere in his deep consciousness he'd realised, traditionally speaking, he's the perfect size for a tiger snack.

They fed budgie birds, saw otters and tapirs, the kids guessing that those large black and white tapirs were pandas (per Bethy) or cows (Thomas), but the winner for the day was the aquarium's touch tank. Bethy could not believe how cold water from Puget Sound is. The Gulf along Dubai is comparable to a very warm bath,

or perhaps the amazing hot chocolate we had afterwards at our favorite restaurant in Kent: Wild Wheat. Obscenely good. They make their own chocolate syrup...mmmm...