Today we spent most of our day at Zoo Atlanta. We met
Caitlin and the girls in the parking lot a few minutes before it opened and
were one of the first people in line. We had the zoo pretty much to ourselves
for the first hour and a half.
We began with the stinky flamingoes. Stella was not a big
fan of their smell and wanted to move on rather quickly. We then saw the
elephants up close. They were out eating bamboo and other greens and got quite close
to us.
We caught a glimpse of some meerkats roaming around their enclosure,
as we headed to see the zebra and giraffes. A great thing about visiting the
zoo first thing in the morning is that the animals are actually active. Both
types of animals were walking around quite a bit. It was hard to get a good
picture of them with the kids, because the animals were all over the place.
The lions, on the other hand, were just lounging on top of a
rock. They were already tired and hot – just like the rest of us!
We were glad to enter the reptile building and enjoy a reprieve
from the heat. The snakes were not very appealing, but it was fun to watch the
turtle swim in the pond. They had several tiny cute colored frogs on display. I
learned quickly, the cuter the more poisonous they are.
The gorilla area was another fun stop. They had several
juveniles and at least a baby gorilla on display. The baby would climb on his
mom’s back and ride around with her.
Just like the lions, the adult orangutan were laying in the
sun not doing much for quite a while. We
were waiting for Caitlin to feed Iris, so we weren’t in a great hurry to go
anywhere. During our wait, one of the orangutans decided to climb up a rock
wall and hang from a rope. It is amazing to see their agility and how far they
can reach between their hand and toe grasp.
Around the corner we spotted a baby orangutan sitting up
front playing by itself and were able to get a few more pictures. By that
point, the kids were all starving so we decided to stop for lunch. The food
court was cooled by some giant misting fans. The kids were more excited to see
the fans, than to admire the animals.
After eating we resumed our walk and viewed the pandas in their indoor play areas. There was a mom with twin one year old baby pandas. It was fun to watch the young ones wrestle and play with one another.
Today is also a memorable day because of the total solar eclipse
visible across many states in the US. We thought we would miss it, but came to
find out that Atlanta was going to have 97% coverage, compared to the 93%
coverage experienced in Salt Lake City.
Caitlin had to leave to take care of Iris, so we walked with
her towards the front of the zoo. On our way, we made a quick stop in the tiger
exhibit. We had passed the opposite side of it a little earlier and could not
spot the tiger.
The second time was the charm. The tiger was playing with a
ball in the pond against the glass. Carson was mesmerized by the animal. He
left one crowded corner of the exhibit, and walked towards an area with hardly
anyone there. As he stood close to watch
the animal just across the glass, the tiger decided to relieve itself and
soiled the entire glass. Thank goodness for the glass, or Carson would have
gotten completely soiled. Guess what was Carson’s favorite part of the day?
Seeing the tiger!
The front of the zoo is where the train, splashpad and
playground are. We got everyone a wristband and we rode the train several
times, before getting tired of hearing the same recording over and over again.
How does the conductor stand it?
The three youngest ones loved playing in the water. They got
soaking wet running through the spraying water geysers. Emilia, Carson and Todd were more interested
in the solar eclipse. They were able to borrow glasses from other people
standing near them, and look at the sun. They also continued to monitor
progress through the cardboard box and camera.
Our surroundings got darker, but not completely black, as I
thought was going to happen. The temperature dropped for a few minutes because
being out in the sun didn’t feel as hot. Eventually, it reached its peak – but I
can’t say it was as impressive as I expected it to be.
During our wait, Carson lost a tooth. He had been wiggling
it for the past week and was really close to losing it on Friday but then he
lost interest and it just hung in his mouth by a thread. Todd had only to pull
on it lightly and it came right off. Now, the big question: will the tooth
fairy find him in Georgia? I guess we’ll know for sure tomorrow morning.
The last exhibit we decided to visit was the Kangaroo area.
It wasn’t too exiting, they were all laying down in the shade and we were being
eaten alive by mosquitoes so we didn’t spend much time there.
We had planned to meet up with Dario and Caitlin at Uncle
Julio’s for dinner at 6pm so we decided to kill some time by treating the kids
to ice cream at Chick-fil-A. Andrew was
so tired, he fell asleep in the car before we drove a mile and didn’t stir when
we got him out of the car seat and moved him to a booth at the restaurant.
He was out cold for a good 30 minutes before waking up and
filling up on ice cream. Stella, who was still damp from the splash pad got
even more cold from eating ice cream so we left Chick-fil-A and headed to
Piedmont Park for the last hour.
The park is beautiful but very large and not very kid
friendly. At least not the area we visited. I roamed around for approximately
15 minutes before deciding to head back to the car.
Uncle Julio’s was a great place to eat. My salad was
average, but Todd really liked his combo platter. We chose to share a chocolate
piñata dessert among the group. The waiter brought up a large tray with a
chocolate ball dangling from a metal rod.
Emilia used a rolling pin to tap the chocolate piñata on
several sides, as instructed, until it cracked releasing churros, berries,
pineapple and other goodies from its center. The contents were delicious and
the experience memorable.
It was the perfect ending to a really busy and fun filled
day.
