Mom came for a visit this week and we took my niece and nephew to the zoo. I've not been to the Atlanta zoon since I was in the 5th grade and I don't remember likening it much, so I wasn't exactly looking forward to it. Boy was I wrong!
The ZOO IS MUCH MORE FUN when you're not a kid! As a kid it was hot, and the animals were cool but kind of boring and there was all this educational garbage around that the adults insisted we read and they were always so ~~SURPRISED~~ by what they read, like they didn't know that average size of an emu's head or whatever. It was "cool" but I couldn't touch the animals or feed them and back in my day there weren't interactive things like water splash pads or train rides. The ZOO was the entertainment. Although most of the animals were super sleepy becuase it was HOOOT!
Now they have a petting zoo and they have a splash pad and a train ride and a tree top ziplining obstacle course (which I'm still not interested in) and a carousel!! Plus, my mother has become one of those grandmas that is prepared for anything. She bought a pull behind wagon and put a cooler with drinks and sandwiches, fruit and snacks and we got to walk around eating chips and looking at the animals. As it turns out I find the educational signs very interesting now. Did you know that panda poop looks like a tiny hay bale? NOW you do.... you're welcome!
One thing that was mildly concerning was the basic lack of security. Some of the animals' enclosures where secure. For example, the elephants had electric fences. But the orangutangs had a glass wall that was up to my chest (I'm about 5'11") and then it was just OOOOOPEN AIR all the rest of the way and there were trees everywhere! I assume that zoologists know that orangutangs climb and jump around in trees... so just thinking about one of them deciding to go for a look around the zoon at night... or during the day. They could EASILY jump out of that tree and out amongst the people. This fear was quelled by 2 things.
the animals didn't seem to WANT to leave their " enclosures."
The lack of walls made my ability to smuggle a red panda out of the zoo MUCH more realistic that previously anticipated...
I didn't do it... I was just thinking about doing it.
All in all it was a fun day. I got my steps it for sure and the temperature was 91f with about 60% humidity, so it wasn't too bad. We were definitely sweaty, but no sunstroke.
From the zoo we dropped my mom off at the airport. My niece didn't take it well. Shes definitely attached to her Mim. She knows mom will be back in a few weeks, I hate to see what she's going to be like when i leave for Korea. I don't think she likes me as much as mom, so maybe she won't break down like she did on Saturday.
This did put a bit of a snag in my plan from last post because Saturday should have been when I meal prepped and so on, but I'm going to do that later tonight and post it this evening after the gym.
All in all it was a great day and my niece and nephew had a great time. It was nice to have an adventure.
See Y'all on the next adventure!