Day 211: We Went to the Zoo!

The kids didn't have school on Monday, and I managed to wrangle a day off, so the three of us headed to the zoo. (Daddy had too many meetings one the books.)

It was our first trip to the zoo since Covid hit, and we were so impressed by the safety measures. We had to reserve our slot ahead of time (no tickets at the gate), and they are only allowing 100 people in per thirty minutes. That meant we had almost every exhibit to ourselves. We saw one other couple at a several enclosures, but the zoo had viewing areas marked off for each family. Masks were also required at all time. Bottom line: we felt very safe!

We had a beautiful fall morning for our trip:

And the zoo had decorated for the season:

There is currently no climbing on the statues, but we still snapped a picture with one:

It is so fun to go to the zoo with big kids, and with so many fewer people the animals were more active and came closer to the glass. The big highlight was watching Obie, the baby chimp:

We probably stood there for twenty minutes watching him. The cougars and gorillas were also really active and close. Even the elephant was the closest we have seen him:

Also please note that the children and I took turns carrying the backpack! We had to a carry our own water (all of the drinking fountains are off), and that thing gets heavy! Can I say again how much I love having big kids?

We were some of the first people back in the aviary since March. It is the first building that they opened, and they are only allowing one family in at a time. It was so cool to have the whole thing to ourselves!

We were sad to not see the puffins or otters, and you can't see any of the animals from the lower levels. The zoo is also all one way right now, which meant we got to take some paths not normally open to the public.

Just look at those faces:

 I'd say it was a good zoo day!