Gorillas and Snakes and Polar Bears, Oh My!

This weekend, Ellie experienced her first real zoo trip - and what an experience it was! We started off our jammed-packed morning by arriving at the City zoo right as it opened on Sunday, hoping to beat the crowds in what was predicted to be a lovely (but not too warm) day. Our first stop on the zoo adventure was the Reptile/Amphibian House, mostly because it was the first thing we saw but also frankly because I thought that Ellie would hate it and we'd get it out of the way. I couldn't have been more wrong. Turns out, our little girl has a thing for snakes. She got more and more excited as we went from snake to snake, crying out "More Snakes" if we tried to sneak a peek at a lizard or a turtle (which are apparently boring). If the snake was just lying there in the case she'd demand "Move around, snake!" but those stubborn snakes didn't really listen to her demands.

Next up was the elephants, which she has always loved, so seeing them in person was really exciting, although her only commentary on the elephants was "Elephant". They were eating and walking around, unlike some of those lazy snakes, so there was no need for making demands. We went on to what turned out to be the most exciting part of our adventure - the gorillas. The gorillas had a very large outdoor area to roam around that is separated from the people by a glass wall. One of the gorillas came right up to the wall while we were standing there and looked Ellie right in the eyes and scratched his nose. Ellie thought this (and pretty much everything the gorilla did) was hilarious and fascinating and she could have stayed there all day.

On a side note, I was taking pictures of her interacting with the gorilla and couldn't see her face too well so I took her hat off. When I took it off, there was a collective gasp and mummer from the gathered crowd about Ellie's striking red hair. No joke, it was like she was the one on display and no one had ever seen a real, live red head before! I have no idea what that was about, but it was very strange.




Anyway, next we wandered over to the polar bears. One of them was pacing back and forth looking rather menacing while the other was frolicking in the water playing with a big blue ball. Ellie really enjoyed watching the polar bear swimming and playing with the ball, so much so that the zebras (who were next on the path) that were just standing around lamely eating grass or whatever seemed pretty dull in comparison. Things perked back up with the giraffes because they are another one of Ellie's favorites and it was pretty exciting for her to get to see them in person.

After a lengthy stroll past a bunch of other fun animals (the otters were a particular highlight for Ellie) we made our way to the Children's Zoo, which is like a petting zoo that basically features a bunch of farm animals that children can touch and pet like rabbits, goats, sheep, donkeys and chickens. For whatever reason, Ellie was only interested in the goats, and walked right by the other animals without any desire whatsoever to pet them. She was also particularly enamored with the life-sized tractor she got to climb on and "drive". Actually this tractor might have been her favorite part of the day, and it was quite a process to finally drag her off and convince her that there was more exciting stuff to see at the zoo than a tractor.

Around this time, it was close to noon and Ellie became so distracted by hunger that she lost all interest in the remaining animals. We'll have to take her back to see the lions and tigers and bears at another time. She had so much fun on this trip (and so did we!) that I am excited to take her back for more zoo adventures. But for this trip, I'd say that the gorillas and snakes and polar bears worked out just fine.