Safely in DC and sweating my butt off at the National Zoo. The pandas are the main attraction but I spotted an Alpaca at the petting zoo. And I couldn’t resist a photo.
My Midwest self is a little puzzled how this is a zoo attraction when they are all over Kansas but I remembered that I am in a major metro….
I can tell these babies had their spring or early summer shear and are growing back their coats. I even got bonus points from my travel companion for knowing they were not llamas but actually alpaca. We were both befuddled by the cow exhibit next door. Again, our Midwest was showing!
My Tangled Yarn Knitting Adventures 
My son has an alpaca farm and yes, their fiber grows so fast!!! It is also so dense and insulating that in the winter when they go out in the snow to play that the snow does not melt on their backs. They love winter and the minus temps, they don’t like our hot midwest summers tho and he runs sprinklers and a splash pad for them to cool off in :P. He has one llama so people can see the difference between the alpacas and llamas. Libby (the llama) is a very good guardian for them too. She doesn’t let any other animals in the pastures, no dogs, cats, raccoons, foxes (or even squirrels lol). My son got her at 6 months old so she could grow up with the herd, she doesn’t know she’s not an alpaca :).