When buying a home, most people shop neighborhoods. Many are striving to be close to work. Some want to be close to family or friends. Others need to consider costs. We in the Puget Sound area are fortunate that close to all neighborhoods are wonderful places to spend time.

What's in your neighborhood? What is the favorite thing you enjoy about where you live? Northgate - The Mall? Jaunita - The beach? Kirkland - Downtown? Fremont - Woodland Park? Maple Valley - A nice rural drive? Bellevue - Bellevue Square?

These have been my favorites in the over 30 years I have lived here.

But my recent favorite had been a hidden opportunity, the Cougar Mountain Zoo. This place gets so little fan fare many locals just don't bother finding it. That is my story. Looking for something to write about last winter, my wife Kathleen braved the weather and visited the Reindeer Festival at Cougar Mountain Zoo.

This links you to the article she wrote: Click here

Since then, we have been captured.

The Cougar Mountain Zoo is a great visit. The animals are truly up close and personal. (not hiding in the African Tundra). It is like these critters become your buddies.

You can visit the YouTube Video for an example of what I mean. This video shows the Zoo's Cougars, Lemurs, Mackaw, and several others.

The Reindeer Festival will go through December 23rd. You can find Rudolph, Santa, and the full pack of Reindeer. Share the warmth of the holidays at this one-of-a-kind event to benefit the animals at the Zoo. You can check out All the Reindeer as you walk through their yard on your way to visiting Santa in his house. Enjoy the music, sights and sounds of the Holidays.

A rare animal is the little Formosan Elk. He loves you to scratch his big ears. His roommates the Alpaca get curious about this, but the minute you reach out to the Alpaca they back off.

And then there is Taj and Almos' the Bengal Tigers. In just a few short months they have grown from cute little guys to magnificent. On their way to 450 pounds, they currently weigh over 100 pounds. You can tell they love Robyn their keeper, but she reminds us they are Tigers and she has to be very careful around them. We were quite taken as to the sound they made when they came up to see Robyn. She said it is a called chuffing. It is a friendly greeting. Robyn has them convinced she is stronger than they are, otherwise Robyn would be banished to staying outside the pen.

Noticing Taj was in a corridor about 50 feet away, I crouched to get a better look at him. The crouch brought out the Tiger instinct and he came at me full speed. Yes, the fence came in handy.

This links to a close up series on Almos, The Royal White Bengal.

And this links to a slide show that samples the many photos we have taken since they were about 16 pounds in size.

Whats in your neighborhood? Ours has a really cool Zoo. Come and visit it. This will link you to its website.