Toledo Zoo

So my very good friend Danette invited me to go to the zoo with her, her daughter and grandson. It has been FOREVER since I've been to the zoo, and I was very excited for it. I hoped and prayed to God that Monday would be a good day so that I could go.

Monday came, and God answered my prayers. I had a great day! Plus, the weather was so nice. It was a bit chilly when we got there, but turned out to be just right. The sun came out, but yet it was only like high 70's. Very nice. I had so much fun with them and was so delighted to get to spend time with them. The company was amazing!

The zoo on the other hand was a bit of a disappointment. I have been to the Toledo zoo as a child and teen and have great memories! This was NOT the zoo from my memories. They have renovated and are still renovating, and changing so much of what I loved and remembered. The Africa exhibit has a very large area for the gazelle, zebra's and giraffes to roam. This is great, except they animals all go way to the back where you can't see them at all. The only way to ensure decent view is to pay to ride the little 3 min. train ride, OR to convince the one mischievous giraffe to herd up the zebra's and push them this way (this actually happened right before we were going to walk away! See picture above).

The penguin display is nothing like I remember! There used to be a large circular area with water around it and big white stone for the penguins to climb over and lay on. Not anymore, you could hardly even see the penguins. There were hardly any animals too. Not that I want to see ton's of animal in cages, but it is a zoo. And they way they have their displays set up, it really is nice and home-like for the animals. We didn't really see any apes, only a few monkey's, two elephants. Many of the animals enclosures were not spectator friendly. Many of the children there couldn't even see through the fencing they had set up, which unfortunately encouraged them to climb! (Dangerous, parents watch your kids!). So anyway, I guess I was just sad because it is not the wonderful place I remember. Still the animals we saw were amazing and beautiful, but just a little disappointing. Anyone been to the Ft. Wayne, IN zoo... we talked about trying that zoo next.