Oakland Zoo

Back in January, Marcus had a day off...and soooooo....our story begins.

Marcus loves the zoo.  Admittedly, I don't.  I like the idea of going somewhere with the family.  I like the idea of going somewhere I think the kids will love.  But zoos, after about an hour, make me sad.  I get too emotional, I guess, about it.  I start thinking about these animals locked in these small cells...and I know they are hurt or whatever so it's like the zoo is actually saving them.  Ok, it's not that dramatic.  But, these thoughts go through my mind. 

BUT.  Friends.  The Oakland Zoo was a breath of fresh air.  I'm tellin' you what...this zoo has got it going on.  How often do you go to the zoo and the animals are just sitting around, or sleeping, hidden, and you can't even see them?  ALL. THE. TIME.  And it's not cheap going to the zoo to see empty displays.  Not in Oakland.  Every single animal (except we couldn't find the hyenas) were up, moving around, visible, happy.  I couldn't believe it.  First of all, it's beautiful up there in the hills.  So, the actual environment is quite nice.  Then, these animals have HUGE areas of...space.  When we were at the Hogle Zoo in Salt Lake, we watched the elephants.  Great.  Cool.  Here?  Holy moly.  There were about 6 elephants with what appeared to be acres of roaming space.  That's impressive.  Truly.  This was quite possibly my favorite zoo experience.  Obviously, it made an impact on me.

We played a little alphabet zoo with Callie until she decided she was done.  We'd go to the animal and she'd tell us what letter it started with...and we'd write it down.  Again, she was into it at first, but then she just wanted to run from animal to animal. 

 There were, like, oh, many giraffes.  I don't remember how many.  But there were a plethora of giraffes in this very large area.  This is the baby that was born only a month before we came.

Attempting to get a good "sister" shot quickly turns into this: 

 

I can't wait to go blond again.  I'm so done with this color. 

Final snack before hitting the road.  It was a fun day.