This is Side Door, a podcast from the Smithsonian with support from PRX. I'm Lizzy Peabody.

All right I got my mask,

I got my ticket on my phone, good to go.

All right, back on the hallowed grounds of the Smithsonian.

All right, where's Justin?

This is a special occasion.

Not only is it our final episode of the season,

this is also the first time I'm seeing

Side Doors senior producer Justin O'Neill since March. We decided to meet up at the

National Zoo. Well hello. Oh, hey Lizzy, how's it going?

Do you live here now?

I just come here, hang out at the 8th house.

Have you told people where we are?

Yes, we are at the Smithsonian's National Zoo and we are currently in the Great Ape House.

And we are both wearing masks and we are standing well over six feet apart.

And I think I have an inkling of why we are here.

Yes, so you know that we've been talking to a lot of guerrilla experts lately and as

part of this episode I really wanted to get us behind the scenes

so we could like meet a gorilla. Meet a gorilla. Yes so are we going behind the

scenes? Originally that was the plan but with COVID precautions this place is open to the public

you know there's this thick glass between us and the orangutans and the guerrillas

but to keep animals safe behind the scenes, it's still pretty

...