It was going to be perfect. Right?
RaRa and PePaw were coming up for a visit for Easter so we planned to go on good Friday because Daddy would also be off work. It was spring break week, the weather was perfect in the high 70's low 80's, and it was a holiday so most people would be traveling and the zoo wouldn't be crowded. I thought it couldn't work out any better.
We woke up early Friday morning and headed to Ashboro, NC (which is about 2 hours away) so that we would get there around mid-morning. Once we got into Ashboro and headed to the road the zoo was on traffic started getting pretty backed up. Being our first time to this zoo we really weren't sure what to expect. Needless to say it took us from 10/10:30 to 11:30/11:45 to wait in traffic in the parking lot and wait in the lines to get in. We couldn't believe how crowded it was. Benjamin asked one of the volunteers if it was always this busy and his response was, "It's the busiest day of the year!". Are you kidding me!? I thought everyone would be traveling. BUT he tried to comfort us in the fact that the zoo could hold 15,000 people no problem. SO we asked him how many they would expect to see today and he said, "about.......15,000." At this point I'm really thinking I should have looked into this more.
Besides the fact that we were at the zoo with the rest of west North Carolina we headed to find some animals. First stop. The Elephants. Emma Claire was not too excited about seeing them because she didn't understand why she didn't see any dogs out there with the elephants. What? We came all the way out there to see some dogs!? However, the highlight of her trip was to see the Chimps. She thought they were great and even tried to talk to them with a little monkey talk. : )
Now, let me explain this zoo. For most of us we are accustom to the Memphis Zoo or the Saint Louis Zoo where there are LOTS of animals and you are REALLY close to them. Well, this zoo was more like an observatory. The animals were a long way off from you and there weren't very many. For example, we went to see the polar bears and there was only 1. We went to see the Gorillas and there was 3. We went to see the Lions and there were only 2. (which were mating and will have to be another journal entry : ) We went to see the cougars and there was just 1. I'm sure by now you get the picture. But because it was set up like an observatory you would have to walk long distances, up hill, to get to where any animals were. I think the whole course was about 5 miles. (up hill mind you : )
The rest of the story was........ THE WEATEHR. Did I mention it was suppose to be high 70's, low 80's, perfect weather? Well, boy was I wrong! It was 90 something degrees and smokin hot. Emma Claire was miserable, cranky, and hungry, but because of the crowd you had to wait in line for about an hour to get food and if you were searching for a spot in the shade, forget it. People were swarming to it like bees.
Now, although it was not the perfect zoo day I had planned. I will NEVER forget our FIRST trip to the zoo. Because of all the trials we encountered our day was full of laughs, joy, and just the fun of being together. Just because it didn't follow my perfect plan of a zoo day doesn't mean it wasn't a perfect day. : )
Left: Getting sunscreened and ready to go to the zoo! Right: Emma Claire was so excited to ride the school bus. It was actually the tram at the zoo, but she thought she was such a big girl!
Right: My little man was such a sport! It was so hot and crowded but he just kept on smiling.
Left; I just about had an anxiety attack next to all of these bees. Are you kidding!?! What if that broke?
And they crashed on the way home!
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