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| Me Crossing the Rope Bridge at the Spider Monkey Treetops Exhibit |
Since I have not traveled during last half of August and all of September while getting cataract surgery, I decided to take my "new eyes" out for a visit to the Nashville Zoo of which I am a member. The zoo continues to grow and have added a new spider monkey treetops exhibit and added rhinos to the Savannah area which use to be home to the elephants. The elephant were sent to the elephant retirement place in Southern Middle Tennessee while the elephant housing was being renovated. Since one of the elephant died while away, the zoo has decided to replace the elephants with rhinos for now. Additional new homes for the tigers and other jungle type animals are still under construction so did miss seeing them.
Check out the photos I took while visiting the zoo in the gallery listed below. The photos are a mixture of new and old including some of my favorites including the kangaroos. Just click the title below the photo.
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| Nashville Zoo September 2017 Photo Gallery |
Only three weeks until I travel to Albuquerque, NM, to visit with my friend Tom Anderson during the annual Balloon Fest. Just found out this week that Tom's wife Nancy has been offered a six month nursing education opportunity back in Honolulu beginning October 1 so she will not be in Albuquerque when I visit. Tom has thoroughly planned a great and busy time while I am there.
Cataract Surgery Update - The cataract surgeries to remove the cataracts from both eyes and replace with new lens implants to correct distance and astigmatism were successfully performed by Dr. Bernard Chang and my eyes have healed and recovered nicely. My vision is much improved.
Remaining 2017 Travel Plans
I am looking forward to my October visit to Albuquerque and have now added a new Amtrak December trip on my favorite train - the California Zephyr. I have enough Amtrak guest reward points, Southwest Rapid Reward points, and American Airlines Advantage miles to do most of the rail fare and all of the airline flights for free.
October 4-14 Albuquerque Balloon Fest and Las Vegas -- Will fly American Airlines to Chicago October 4 in the morning and board Amtrak's Southwest Chief that afternoon 3 PM. The Southwest Chief will arrive afternoon of October 5. My friends, the Andersons, will pick me up and deliver me to my hotel for five nights. While in Albuquerque, the Andersons will be my host and together we will take in all the balloon fest activities and experience my first time staying in Albuquerque. One of the must do activities will be to ride the commuter train the Railrunner from downtown Albuquerque to Santa Fe and return. By the way, I met the Andersons while riding the Durango and Silverton Railroad on my 2012 Colorado Road Trip. At the time they were living in their RV but now have a one bedroom apartment in Albuquerque.
After five nights in Albuquerque, I will fly Southwest Airlines to Las Vegas and four nights at Caesar's Palace. It's been a while since I last visited so I have already purchased my front row seat to see Cirque Du Soleil's "O' at the Bellagio. I'll fly American Airlines home to Nashville Saturday October 14.
December 4-17 Amtrak California Zephyr Trip -- Will fly Southwest Airlines to New Orleans for four days and then ride Amtrak's City of New Orleans and California Zephyr from New Orleans through Chicago to Reno, Nevada. After three days in Reno, I'll return on Amtrak California Zephyr to Chicago for one night and then fly home on American Airlines. Best thing is not much money required and good amount of train time(five nights).
2018 Travel Plans
I have done some "day dreaming" about 2018 but have not made any decisions about 2018 travel pending completion of the cataract surgeries and allowing my budget to catch up.
You can click on any of the small photos in this blog to open a full size photo.
All my photos are available to view on Reagan's Photo Galleries website.
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