The Zoo

Over Spring Break, a trip to the Ft. Worth Zoo was on our To Do list.  (Apparently it's among the Top 5 best zoos in the country.  That's still up for debate...I've been to some awesome zoos...San Diego, Houston, Hogle Zoo in SLC, and the Willow Park Zoo in Logan!!) Unfortunately, it was also on the To Do list of every other person in the DFW Metroplex that week.  According to local news sources, there were over 125,000 zoo visitors during the 9-day spring break period!  UGH! We decided not to go.


We were all disappointed, because even though the thought of being in an ocean of people sounded miserable, we still REALLY wanted to go to the zoo!  So we came up with a consolation idea...we skipped the zoo over Spring Break, but we promised the kids that we'd take them out of school on the first Wednesday that we were all available (aka...major planet alignment!)

Today was THE DAY.  The majority of our planets aligned for us.  My visiting teaching is done.  The kids all did their homework in advance.  No one had tests.  And Wednesday = 1/2 price day at the zoo!  (The only planet that wasn't in alignment was my husband's.  Unfortunately, he forgot to clear all the Wednesdays on his calendar and scheduled a full day of appointments.)


This morning, we slept in, had breakfast, and left for Ft. Worth around 9:30ish.  It takes an hour to get to the Ft. Worth Zoo, so with a quick stop for water bottles and snacks, and a couple of minor GPS misdirection issues, we made it to the zoo by 10:45.   It was 39 degrees when we left the house this morning and only got up to 45 degrees late in the afternoon, so there were not a lot of people there today.  (Definitely better than 125,000!)  


Highlights...

That isn't a real lizard, but we had to look really closely...and touch it...before we knew for sure.  

This was my FAVORITE thing about the whole day.  The Museum Of Living Art.  And I'm not even a REPTILE girl.  But the snakes and frogs were seriously amazing and extraordinary.  I think I took pictures of every single one.  (The only exception was the roaches...ew...EW...and EWW!!  I couldn't even look at them.   YUCK!) 

This is a West African Green Mamba.  I LOVED this guy...look at his face.  He's GORGEOUS!  You'd never know that he's totally venomous and one bite could kill you instantly!!  Thank goodness for that thick piece of glass separating us.

Poison Dart Frogs.  They look like those little plastic frogs you get at the Dollar Store.  They're so beautiful, but they secrete a totally toxic poison from their skin.  I'm sure I would never remember that if I ever visited the Rain Forest.  I'd definitely want to pick one of these up and take it home.  (Note to self: Do Not plan a vacation to the Rain Forest)

 Oh yeah...and they had SNAKE DOOR HANDLES!!  Very cool!!

This is a Scarlet Ibis.  Did you know that they don't come in this gorgeous red color??  When they're babies, they are grey and white.  But their diet of red crabs turns their feathers red.  Cool, huh??

The carousel was fun because they're always fun, but it's the expression on Mack's face that I loved about this picture...so cute.  

I'm not usually drawn to the hoofed things at a zoo, but I liked these guys because of their stripes.  They're called bongos (striped antelopes).

The very last thing we saw was the bird aviary.  It was ALL parakeets and cockatiels, (which was especially meaningful for Spell Girl because she has not been up close to a parakeet since the unfortunate experience we had about a year ago when we unknowingly starved three of them to death.)  There were JILLIONS of them.  And they were all beautiful.  I've never seen some of those shades of turquoise before.  I chose to stay OUTSIDE the enclosure because lots of birds flying around above my head didn't sound enticing to me.  The girls loved it, though.

 
We spent an awesome 4 hours at the zoo, then had a late lunch/early dinner on the way home.  It was a perfect break in the week, and a great way to spend a Wednesday!  

I LOVE the zoo.