The Secret at the Zoo

Sunday was a lovely day around here, and I wanted to do something outside that involved a little bit of friendly exercise. So I suggested we go to the zoo. Dermot had gone to the zoo over the summer on a field trip, and by the time Ethan offered to chaperon, there were no more tickets left. So Dermot had an adventure at the zoo without either of us there. He has been talking about a secret at the zoo that he wanted to share with us. He also got to see the new home for the penguins, and of course, he wanted Mama to see that too. So we set off for the zoo Sunday morning, right after they opened. We decided to start off looking for the secret. Dermot insisted that it was by the prairie dog display. You would think that he would like the prairie dog display since you can go inside and pretend to be a prairie dog, but Dermot is hit or miss with it. On the way to the prairie dog display, we passed by the penguins. So Dermot thought it would be okay if we checked them out. The secret could wait until later. The new penguin exhibit is cleaner, brighter, and larger than the old one. They seemed pretty happy, but they weren't doing too much. A zoo worker said they were probably waiting for their food.

After the penguin we ventured off to look for the secret. Apparently it was a real animal that looked like a deer. We didn't see it by the prairie dogs, but we were near the small play ground. So Dermot climbed up and went down the slide exactly once. I hate to complain about other parents, but this drives me crazy. There was one small entry way into the equipment, and all of the parents were standing right in front of it to watch their kids. I had to tell Dermot to go ahead and push his way in since the adults should have known better. I have seen this happen at other places,but this was the most crowded in the smallest place I have ever seen it. Each kid had two to three family members blocking the way. Just not smart.

After the playground, Dermot decided to give up on the hunt for the secret for now. So we went to the train. None of us had been on this train before. I have taken Dermot to a different zoo train twice, but this train was wider and faster. It didn't go through the zoo, though. We saw the reservoir nearby. It was cooling, though, since we were moving and there was a breeze. I wonder if it would cool you off in the summer or if it would just be more hot air. Then we went to the reptile house. Dermot loves the reptile house. We saw bats and snakes. I love to look at the pretty poison dart frogs. Their colors are just so vibrant. Dermot started asking about the gift shop since it was next door, but we convinced to look around.

I think that this was the most attention Dermot ever spent on the zoo. We saw the cougars, the alligator, the wolves, and then we kept walking. Eventually we came across the "secret". Apparently Dermot was really taken by the male Elk. He's huge and so are his antlers. I didn't see any elk friends for him, though, and that makes me sad. He was hanging with some bison, but that's just not the same. Maybe the lady elk were hiding from the sun or something. After all that we did make it to the gift store, and Dermot added a small frog to his "aminal" collection. I also left with a stuffed platypus, which means that Dermot has a stuffed platypus. I have wanted one of those since I was a kid. My mom had bought a set of books and accompanying cassettes for me when I was a kid. All of the books had similar titles, but they were about different animals. My favorite was "A Platypus is a platypus". I read that over and over. In fact, my mother has kept the set. I'm supposed to get it some day.

So, all in all, Sunday was a lovely family day at the zoo full of adventure and tracking down secrets.