I loaded up the kids and we headed out for the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, NE.
Of course, my kids had heard about the boy that fell into the Gorilla enclosure and the shooting of the gorilla that followed.
The good thing about this was the discussion we had about staying close (especially Weston).
We have not been to the Omaha Zoo in about three years now. That place changes all the time. There is no longer a parking lot where the parking lot was located last time we were there.
The main problem with this is you don’t have time to see even half of the zoo in a day.
We were on a bit of a time crunch, so we tried to see as much as possible as fast as possible.
I thought with it being a Thursday the zoo wouldn’t be as busy. I realized just how wrong I was when we had to park along the curb at the end of the parking lot!
Turns out, it was the day for all the daycares and daycamps to go on a fieldtrip... to the zoo. There were so many people.
When I bought our tickets, I decided to go with the package that included Sting Ray Beach. Wow, have prices gone up in recent years.
We grabbed our map and decided on the best route. First things first, the jungle.
All three of my kids were having a blast soaking in everything. We were enjoying our stroll through the jungle when we walked under-into one of the fake caves.
This cave had a little sunlight, just enough that you could see the family of bats hanging just a couple short feet above your head. I am sure they did not belong in there, as they were not contained in anything.
I do not like bats. I have had very bad experiences with them in the past, which is why it took everything I had not to scream and take off running.
I did however, look up and see this family of bats and said to my kids, “GO, GO, GO!” We got the heck out of there as fast as we could!
Next stop was the concession stand; we were starving! We chose the one right next to the aquarium, as that was where we were headed next.
There is nothing like watching kids see large sea turtles and sharks swim over their heads! Right as we were leaving that area, something swam over that my girls weren’t expecting and they jumped.
After the Aquarium, it was time to go visit the giraffes and elephants. Elephants are a huge favorite in our house.
They had built a new large indoor enclosure for the elephants, so we went in and watched them eat and saw a baby.
Next up was the gorillas. There were a couple very large ones sitting right up next to the glass; they were nice and relaxed, just soaking up some sun.
As we walked by one monkey enclosure, my girls got to see more than they wanted, so we moved on quickly.
It was getting to be time we needed to get to the other side of the zoo so we could visit Sting Ray Beach. Due to all the construction going on and what looked to be blocked off paths, we went by it a couple of times.
Eventually, we made our way to the exibit. It was pretty fun. You rinse your arms off up to your elbows and stick your hands right in the water to feel and play with the sting rays. Some of them sort of had one of their sides up for a high five.
It was about this time our cousin almost got attacked by a peacock while waiting outside; we decided it was time to go.
No comments:
Post a Comment