In the spirit of new posts

With the coming of the new year came the delightful arrival of a tax refund. I know, someday it will be the other way around. I'm enjoying it while I still can.

We got ourselves a membership to the zoo. We've only gone twice but the pass has more than paid for itself, and I haven't even been on a camel yet. (Yes, you can ride camels at this zoo.) 

p.s. We can get two guests in for free, too. You know you've always wanted to come see America's first official zoo.

I wasn't expecting much when we first visited. Brochures can be made up all fancy, you know. But it surpassed expectations and I loved it. This zoo is amazing.

 

 

The zoo isn't huge but still feels massive. The layout is nice and open, which is a plus, but the real !!! are the exhibits.

Petting zoo. Ruth is brushing Nathaniel, the goat. She thought that was cool for about 45 seconds. Lily basically adopted her goat and I had to break her heart by explaining that we couldn't own one.






Ready for the COOLEST? They have trails set up for the animals. There were two tigers mere feet above our heads, just walking around. It was a little intimidating. This picture doesn't do them justice. We watched a leopard walk past us as we ate a snack.

I wish I'd gotten a picture of the section of trail where they literally walked over our heads. 

The bird experience was truly an experience. This one had to come and let us know that it was king.

We were *this close* to a snow leopard! Of all cats! That just doesn't happen, you know? 

Oh yeah, and the lion cubs totally made eyes at Lily. Maybe they're soul mates. Maybe she looks tasty. Dunno. 



We went again today, this time to see the primates and the small mammals. The gibbons were enthralling. And we got to watch them feed the vampire bats! 450 mL of cow blood to feed all 18 of them. They had an entire nocturnal section that was dark, lit by black light in some places, and we could see the coolest animals. The hedgehogs were adorable and the sloths were cool and the aardvarks were really cute. Much bigger than I thought they would be. Sorry, we didn't take a camera.

Long story short: best family purchase we've made.