The Lights Before Christmas

I love the Toledo Zoo - it is one of my favorite things about living in Northwest Ohio. The Toledo Zoo is one of the top ranked zoos in the country - and it does deserve that distinction. Every year the zoo holds "The Lights Before Christmas" - when they put up over 1 million lights all throughout the zoo property. I've been every year since I have been here, and it is a tradition I am sure to miss.

Jim and I decided to go to the zoo on Thursday, figuring that the ice storm wouldn't come through until later, and arrived at the zoo to discover we had the place practically to ourselves (we arrived at about 3:30). We had a chance to enjoy much of the zoo without actually seeing another person - it was amazing. We could actually hear the noises the animals were making (particularly the tiger, which "wuffed" at us as she/he walked past). Even as it started getting dark there weren't near the number of people there that the lights normally gather - good for us, if not so good for the zoo. It was so nice to walk around and take pictures, and not feel overcrowded.

Here are some pictures I took this past Thursday with my point-and-shoot Canon. I think they turned out pretty good, especially considering that I didn't have a tripod with me. Here's a link to the album:

Lights Before Christmas 2008

And a few of my favorite pictures:

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

From Lights Before Christmas 2008

Change...a Democratic Rally

Jim and I went to our first political rally on Saturday evening. We went to see Sen. Joe Biden at a rally held on the BGSU campus here in Bowling Green, Ohio. It was an interesting experience. Biden is a pretty good speaker, actually. The news reports said that there were over 2,000 people there - which I think is pretty good for a college town on a Saturday night.
Here are a couple pictures from the event. The first photo is of the sniper/lookout on top of Williams Hall, where the history department is housed. The second is of some of the crowd, and the third is a slightly blurry photo of Biden speaking. It was difficult to get a good picture!

I don't know if I'll be able to sleep until I know the outcome of the election!

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos

From Blog Photos