The ZOO!

On Sunday, we headed to the Minnesota Zoo. We recently renewed our membership, so we'll try to get up there more often to make it worth the money. They added a new "Africa Exhibit" including Zebras, Ostriches, and Giraffes. As part of the new exhibit, for 5 dollars you could buy 2 Rye-Crisp Crackers and feed the Giraffes. The line was pretty long and we didn't know if Amaya would be scared or not, but after she saw the giraffe and was fascinated by him, we had to do it. Unfortunately, as we approached the beginning of the line, the giraffe was full! We received a refund and thought we would try to come back before the bird show. We were in luck! The second time we came back, both giraffes were eating so we had a pretty good chance to feed one of them.



I wasn't quite sure what to expect. The instructions we were given was to break the cracker in two and hold it up high. I thought I was going to have to put the cracker in his mouth, but instead he surprised me by sticking out his tongue and grabbing the cracker! His tongue was very rough - I suppose to eat the leaves, etc. It was a very cool experience though and I recommended it to everyone who visits. When else can you be that up close and personal with a giraffe?



Amaya really enjoyed watching the moose, so much in fact, that when we left, she cried and cried. She also enjoyed the prairie dogs, the otters, and any exhibit that had water - especially Discovery Bay. We're disappointed that they no longer have the dolphin show as that was one of my favorites. Steve likes the tiger exhibit, but for the last few times we haven't been able to see them. Maybe next time.



We ran out of time to visit the farm animals, so we'll have to do that next time too. We pretty much let Amaya go where she wanted to go and spend as much time as she wanted at whatever exhibit interested her. Unfortunately, the zoo was busier than we had ever seen it, so we're hoping the next time we go it won't be as crowded. Overall though, it was a great day.