Zoo's Monday

Aiden is visiting with Grandpa and Mimi for the week.

Monday we visited the zoo. It was very cold, overcast and snowing/raining off and on but the upside was that no one was there. Aiden and I had every display to ourselves. It was kind of eery at times. But the fun thing was that we could spend as much time as we wanted without having to "share." I think Aiden enjoyed the elephants (who were inside and close) and some of the cats but the most interesting was the manatee display which was essentially one huge floor to ceiling enclosed glass tank/viewing area filled with hundreds of fish and the two manatees. The manatees just floated around without a care in the world while Aiden stood mesmerized by all the activity. There was also a large display representative of a mangrove or sugarcane grove that was filled with numerous snakes of all colors, shapes and sizes the most memorable of which were several large rattlesnakes. What was distinctive about the display was how active they were and visible. Their case was essentially the size of a small room with floor to ceiling glass so you could get up close and personal. There was also a small, aquarium size tank with several large freshwater turles that were right at child's level for viewing and of course Aiden loves turtles so he really enjoyed that too. Despite the cold it was a worthwhile couple of hours.