Zoofers!

Back to the start of our week long road trip to Wisconsin! In an effort to take full advantage of our Rosamond Gifford Zoo membership, Pete and I coordinated our longer pit stops to take place in cities with zoos that offer reciprocation. Took a page from Cynthia's book on that one. After lunch with Pete's Mom in Buffalo (she got to see us at the start AND the tail end of our travels) we headed to the Erie Zoo. Which I will have to let my friend Jenn O. know is surprisingly more than just a few fenced in squirrels. In fact, it was pretty great! The girls got to see rhinos, giraffes, and this cool monkey exhibit all pretty close up (one thing I love about medium to smaller sized zoos). We don't have rhinos or giraffes at Syracuse's zoo so that was a real treat.

My favorite zoo of our mini-tour was the next day, the Toledo Zoo. They have an awesome hippo exhibit that the girls loved and the buildings and grounds are very nice (many of the buildings were built as part of FDR's New Deal). The Fisher-Price Children's Zoo with it's Little People theme was also a big hit. Aislin loved getting up-close and personal with the goats. Seriously, if I did not live in a relatively urban environment I would get her one. She actually got on the ground face-to-face with one kid. "Hi goat!" and then they had a serious, but mostly one-sided conversation. There was lots of petting and general communing with the goats. I think we all know how I feel about goat cheese...so if we ever move to a rural area watch out. Aisy and I might become goat farmers.

Last up was the zoo we hit in South Bend, Indiana. Potawatomi Zoo was inside of a park and of course we got the standard "We've never had anyone come through here from your zoo!!" Way to be Midwestern. Actually South Bend is a very nice city. I'd been there before and probably had more fun driving around it trying to find the zoo than I did at the zoo itself. I got to show Pete Notre Dame's "Touchdown Jesus" and it was fun to see the various campus buildings and some of the very nice homes in the area.

This zoo stop technique worked really well for us, especially as we traveled with young children. It was easy on the pocketbooks, since we got in for free at all these zoos and our membership fee is ridiculously affordable. The girls were entertained. Did I mention Toledo had a carousel (bonus!)? And we got a chance to really stretch our legs, take advantage of decent bathrooms and food options if needed (most of the times we were set, but always good in case of emergency). Yet another fun part of our delightful road trip!