Monday, August 09, 2010

The bear came over the mountain...

So Saturday we drove from Denver to Colorado Springs to visit the zoo. We had a coupon that allowed us to save $10 at the zoo as a family to get in. However, we did end up spending $10 to rent a double stroller. It was very busy that day at the zoo, so parking was a little difficult, but we managed. Well, first thing we visited the gift shop so we could all use the bathroom before we started looking at all the animals. Oh my word. The bathrooms were tiny! I had trouble getting the little umbrella stroller in there and then I was pretty much blocking the door for other people. I was pretty annoyed and it made me upset for people who visit the zoo that are in a wheelchair! I can't imagine how it would even be possible for them to get in there at all!

OK, so the stroller rental was also annoying. First of all it was ten bucks and they took Chris's i.d. to insure that we would return it. The Wichita zoo has single strollers for $3 and doubles for $5 and they don't take your i.d.. The stroller also had no sun shade/canopy and it was a hot day with no clouds in the sky. The ones in Wichita have a nice large canopy.

So, here is the next complaint ~ It's a zoo on the side of the mountain. We were aware of that and were prepared to do some major walking uphill. We were NOT prepared for the lack of ramps and/or elevators, so we had to carry the strollers up the stairs! There was basically one direction to go and up it was. I don't think any of us had a great time. Chris and I were exhausted from all the carrying and pushing of the kids and strollers in the heat and the kids really couldn't see the animals because the viewing areas were so tiny and there were so many other people there. So then we were miffed that we basically wasted $10 on a stroller rental that we really didn't get to use very well anyway.

OK, so we get to a stopping point and turn back around to head in another direction that we have not yet been at the zoo. We get ready to turn and a zoo worker turns us away and says we can't go that way because it's not safe. Apparently a wild grizzly came down from the mountain and they were trying to get a moose to scare it back up, but the moose was being stubborn. She said they hoped to have it back open in about an hour. Seriously? We decide to sit a while and figure out if we should wait or just go do something else. We finally decided that we were all hungry, so we went to the closest McDonald's we could find. In the end we pretty much missed 1/3 of the zoo, not to mention that there were several exhibits and buildings that were just closed!

I did get to see the okapis. I really like these guys. They are pretty cool looking animals, so that made me happy!
We also saw these little chipmunks scampering around the rocks. Pretty cute!

One of the neat things was this little fawn in the parking lot. So adorable with it's little white spots. He was "crying" for his mommy it sounded like. Almost sounded like a kitten. We saw the doe too, but I don't know where she went. This baby seemed kind of scared out there all alone with all the cars and people.

Here is a video of the kids talking about the bear at the zoo...

Here is a picture of Chloe at McD's after the zoo. She's such a good little burger eater :-)

5 comments:

  1. Bummer. If you don't mind me saying.
    The kids told me the wild bear that came down into the zoo from the mountains and and loose moose story today with full animation! I'm sorry about that whole scenario, so weird, but the kids have a wild bear tale to tell!

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  2. I'd never seen an okapis. Unusual and unique!

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  3. I'm so sorry your experience was wrotten. We went last summer and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We got caught up in feeding the giraffes and even dared a teenager to hold the biscuit in his mouth for the giraffe - needless to say, it was hilarious when the kid got slimed. We had different dynamics, of course - we went WITHOUT kids and all the exhibits were open, so we just leisurely took our time and enjoyed the animals and some of the people. I'm so sorry that yours was not as good.

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  4. It wasn't totally horrible, just disappointing. If we'd know how it was going to be we would have made the kids walk and gone without strollers.

    We did think about feeding the giraffes, but the kids were scared, so we didn't bother.

    I don't know why so many exhibits and buildings were closed. Maybe they were in the process of changing some habitats or moving the animals elsewhere?

    Someday when the kids are older we may try it out again. Or maybe the Denver zoo. We were going to go there, but changed our minds the night before...

    I kinda thought it'd be neat to see a wild bear, but I guess probably not the safest/smartest thing to do ;-)

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  5. Oh no! That is always discouraging when things don't turn out how you were planning on them being.

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