Momma Z’s early morning text read “Are you guys up for hanging out today?? We’re tired of cleaning and running errands!” The message was perfect, because we were also sick of running errands. For those of you who don’t live here, Chicago is experiencing unseasonably warm temperatures. Temperatures have been in the low-to-mid 70’s all week and perfect for adventuring.
After some quick decisions we headed down to the Lincoln Park neighborhood to the city zoo…the Lincoln Park Zoo! The zoo is free and perfect for walking around to enjoy a great Chicago fall day. Momma Z and Linda picked us up and had us at the gates by 10:30AM. With the perfect temperature and full sun, the lions were much more active than usual. In fact, I think they were the most active I have ever seen.
Whoa…check it out
After that good start, we headed to the reptile house to catch a live animal presentation. The critter of the day: “Meatball” the three-ring armadillo! So the girls got to check out Meatball rootin’ around some woodchips. And while they couldn’t appreciate the educational stuff, it was still cool. The entrance room of the reptile house is all carpeted, so the girls safely toddled around from exhibit to exhibit. And a bunch of the exhibits have “pods” at kid height, so they could actually see the animals.
We were able to enjoy a packed lunch in a clean, shaded pavilion and wandered through most of the zoo. As a random sidenote, the bathrooms by the pavilion were new and clean, and there was a clean changing table in the Men’s Bathroom. Good job LP Zoo! Overall they are doing a bunch of renovation to the zoo, making it even better.
The girls’ interest level varied by the animals. Obviously, they were more into the active animals and barely noticed the ones that were snoozing. Most of the animals were active like the lions so there was a good show overall…definitely worth the entrance fee (Free, remember?!). We had a special treat watching feeding time in the vulture cage. It was morbidly fascinating and Momma Z and I were stuck – it was better than the Discovery Channel. I decided not to post any of the rat lunch pictures (yes, I took more than one).
What do you think those are?
So the day was a great adventure overall. Many thanks to Momma Z and Linda for helpin’ us get out and enjoy the day…and for driving. Random note #2: Momma Z rocked a great Lincoln Park parallel parking job, sticking their Subaru Wagon in a spot just big enough. Good thing I kept my mouth shut! Random note #3: we wandered past the cast for an upcoming TV show, “Sirens”, as they were eating lunch. No offers to be extras though, oh well. And the day’s main lesson; always check the signs on the exhibit before you search the foliage for critters.
Everyone needs a break sometime
Dad's Diaper Detour 