And 'Dey All Axed Fa You'

I want to go 'on down to the Audubon Zoo' so badly, it hurts. These are my girls at Monkey Hill there having a great time. It's their absolute favorite part of the zoo. The zoo fared extremely well during the hurricane:
"Thousands of people are feared dead in the rubble of storm-shattered New Orleans, but at the New Orleans zoo only three of its 1,400 animals died in the wrath of Hurricane Katrina.
The famous Audubon Zoo has the good fortune of being located on some of the city's highest ground, but it also had a disaster plan for the animals that worked better than the city's plan for humans.
It suffered no serious flooding, but the storm's fierce winds toppled several large trees and knocked down branches throughout the 52-acre (21-hectare) grounds.
The only fatalities so far were two otters and a raccoon, zoo curator Dan Maloney said on Sunday."
But for now, the zoo is closed until further notice. It may be for a while:
"The aquarium, and possibly the zoo, will not reopen for at least a year, according to a person familiar with the situation. Although both facilities held up well during the hurricane, they will be impacted by the severe population loss and damage to the infrastructure in New Orleans. "
We're going to be some of the first in line when they do re-open. It's one of our favorite places to go and is still the most beautiful zoo that I've ever visited. The Audubon zoo embodies so much of what New Orleans and the entire State of Louisiana is about. There's a certain lazy, comfortable, warm atmosphere to it that makes you never want to leave. We could spend all day under the enormous oak trees, playing in the streams and waterfalls at Monkey Hill or eating jambalaya at The Cypress Knee cafe.
If I would have known that when we went, back in June, that it would be the last time for quite a while, I would have savored it all a little more. But, I'll be counting the days until we can go back and have a little taste of New Orleans that seems untouched by the Hurricane of 2005.