The Zoo

Around noon today my cell phone rang. It was Keith calling to tell us to get ready to go to the zoo. He took the afternoon off, picked us up and we headed off to the zoo. We debated which one to go to, Dallas or Fort Worth. Garrett and I went to the Dallas Zoo last spring and I really liked it whereas Keith had been to the Fort Worth Zoo when he was a kid and wanted to go back. Considering that both closed at 4:00 we didn't have a lot of time to discuss it, but his desire to go back to the Fort Worth Zoo won. I was glad because Garrett fell asleep in the car and since Fort Worth is about an hour's drive for us, he was able to get in a little bit of a nap before we got there.

In order to get Garrett's cooperation with getting ready for the zoo, I told him we were going to see elephants so he needed to change his clothes. After that it was all he wanted to talk about. He kept grabbing my hand and attempting to drag me to the door so we could go see "elfents". He woke up from his nap in the car with about 15 minutes to spare before arriving at the zoo and he immediately started crying because we weren't seeing elephants.

We got to the zoo with about 2 and a half hours until closing time, which is honestly plenty of time for a 2 year old. The first animals to see when walking into this zoo were the gorillas. Keith walked Garrett up to the plexi-glass partition where one of the gorillas was sitting, they were close enough to get a real good look at him. Garrett immediately covered his face and turned away, he never cried, but it was like that was too close for comfort and he didn't want to see gorillas in that proximity.

As much as he wanted to see the elephants, he acted pretty indifferent when we reached their area. He pointed and waved at them, which he was doing to all the animals, but no overt sign of excitement. He waved at the zebras so much, I half expected to see one of them lift up a hoof and wave back.

I've been watching too many cartoons.

There were a few interesting moments while there. First, the hippo was out of the water. I've never seen a hippo not in the water, they are huge! I definitely would not want to fall down underneath him. Secondly, the bear was very funny. He stood on his hind legs almost directly underneath where visitors were looking at him. I think he was begging for food. Third, we apparently approached the lion's den/area/cage right around feeding time and lion was roaring for his food, very interesting and Garrett loved it. We also saw a mom fall down while holding her baby girl, thankfully her husband was right there and neither one was seriously hurt, but I could totally see myself doing that, heck, I have done that, minus the part where I was holding my child, thankfully that hasn't happened...yet.

We really enjoyed our day at the zoo. I'm so glad that the weather was nice, we were all able to wear short sleeves and never once got the slightest bit chilly. I'm looking forward to doing this again real soon. Although next time I probably will push for the Dallas Zoo, it's so much closer and there's not much of a difference in my opinion, although if Garrett falls asleep in the car like today, then the drive to Fort Worth might be worthwhile.