Remember THIS post about all of the awesome things to do with kiddos when you're visiting Dallas, Allen and Grapevine, Texas? I wanted to elaborate on some of those things over a few different posts. Today, I want to talk about the Zoo.
I LOVE the Dallas Zoo. If I lived within an hour of it, I'd own a season pass. I love how easy it is to navigate and how many trees there are. When you are as pale as I am, you value the shade. I don't tan, I just turn tomato red, so being able to walk all over and not get burned is a huge plus for me.
Both times we've gone, we get there right after it opens. I kid you not, the first time we visited I think we had the zoo to ourselves for close to an hour. We literally did not see another person for at least that long. It was awesome. This time was a similar experience. There were other people, but not too many, and we had no trouble viewing the exhibits.
So, what are some of the fun things you can do there?
My boys started our day off with a camel ride. Yes, a camel ride.
They LOVED it. I am trying to think of the camels name (it was something cute) but I'm drawing a blank right now. Anyway, she was just precious and enjoyed stopping to pose for my 8700 pictures. I think the smile on my boys faces is self-explanatory. ;-)
One of the exhibits that the kids loved (ahem, and mommy too) were the cute little penguins! Aw!
I just love penguins. They just seem like sweet little animals, all dressed up with no where to go.
Oh and this is random, but little known Jenna fact? I'm terrified of goats. Seriously. No, thank you. The goat keeper tried to convince me how harmless they are are, but I know better. Chris was on his own for that little petting zoo experience. I was safely outside of the gate.
Back to the story. Ahem.
It would not be a proper zoo experience without saying hello to The Golden Girls, as the five elephants at the Dallas Zoo are referred to. The way this exhibit is set up, you feel like you are right there with them.
The last thing I want to highlight is the fact that you can feed the giraffes. I don't know who enjoyed this more...Brody or me. It's a toss up. (PS - This is one of the only times you will ever, ever, ever see my hair in a ponytail. It was fiercely windy that day).
(PPS - remember THIS post where I said I have the ponytail of a 3 year old? Well, here's your photographic proof).
Anyway, you can buy some romaine lettuce from the zookeeper for $5 and feed the giraffes. Warning: The adults that come to feed them might act like 2 year olds. I literally had a lady yell at Brody for "stealing her turn." I'll let your imagination figure out how I might have responded to that.
One quick thing that is worth mentioning is that you can bring your own food and drinks into the zoo, and I HIGHLY recommend that you do. A bottle of water is like $5 or something outrageous, and the food selection is poor. I brought drinks and snacks for us and then we went out to eat afterwards.
Back where the camel rides are, are a bunch of picnic tables. A lot of people left their coolers there to hold their table (which doesn't seem very nice, because then no one else can sit there ALL DAY) but the point is, you can bring your own cooler.
Also, many people brought red wagons to pull their kids in. I used my BOB and that's what I would recommend doing. Pulling a wagon up and down some of the hilly areas doesn't seem like much fun to me.
As usual, it was a great visit. If you're close by or planning to take a trip to Dallas, I highly recommend visiting the Dallas Zoo!
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