A Trip to the Zoo

We had a great day at the zoo! As we pulled up, I started regretting our decision to come before school was out for summer. There were no less than 10 school buses lined up and oodles and oodles of parents and kids waiting to get into the zoo.  We got in line (the school kids and parents were not in line, so we didn't have a long wait) and then entered the zoo. The first few exhibits were a bit crowded, but as we moved farther from the entrance the crowds died down.

We started in the Australian section. This exhibit was new the last time I went to the zoo (in the mid-90s) and Aaron had never seen it. It is section off from the rest of the zoo by a train station. Oddly enough it looked a lot like a train station that we visited in the Australian rainforest, so I'd say they did a good job in making it look Australian. We walked through the gates and into an aviary, then on the other side of the aviary there were a few exhibits of larger birds and a few other Australian (and New Guinean) animals, including some free roaming kangaroos. The 'roos stuck to a field and didn't cross into areas where visitors went, but they could if they wanted to. Unfortunately, unlike in Australia, we didn't get to pet the kangaroos, but we did have fun looking at them and remembering the fun time we had petting them in Australia. Hopefully someday we'll be able to take Jenna to Australia so she can pet them, too!

After Australia, we headed to Africa and got sidetracked by the elephants. I don't think Jenna realized how big elephants are, so it was cute to see her face when she first saw one.

Along the way we got to pet a sheep (which Aaron kept calling a goat - drove me almost as crazy as the lady at the petting zoo that kept calling the shetland pony a donkey!) and some small deer.