Amazing Zoo Trip

Today we went to the Pittsburgh Zoo for an early Father's Day with Cori, Dave, and Pop-Pop (Dave's Dad). We had such a great time! The weather was wonderful - not too hot, a good breeze and overcast to keep the sun at bay. We went as soon as the zoo opened and the animals were all up and about (except for the bears who slept all day - early hibernation?)

here's the new hair color for those of you wondering...

It was amazing to see the animals up so close - the tigers came right up to the glass much to our amazement! They were pacing back and forth, stalking almost! The teeth on them are huge, as well as their paws. Dave said he somewhat panicked, even though he knew the glass was between them!The lions were active, and the male lion roared for a good long time. Wow is that incredible to hear live; I can only imagine how scary it would be to hear that "in the wild". Did you know a lion's roar can travel up to 5 miles away? We continued to hear the roar all day throughout the zoo. We were close enough (and thanks to our awesome SLR camera) to see the battle scars on the male lion.

notice the scars on the hind leg?

We even saw the polar bears in their new exhibit. Talk about a close encounter!! This bear swam right up to us and in my opinion, the TV doesn't show how incredibly large these creatures are! We saw one swim above us when we were in the tunnel as well, and that huge bear just looked effortless swimming in the water. I didn't get any pictures in the tunnel due to the glare but I was a little too awed to really look away from them and through the lens.


Cori took a brief hour nap which allowed us to spend some time in the aquarium petting sting rays and talking to some staff. But when she woke up, the fish were probably her favorite part. She loved pointing to them and watching them swim by. She seemed fascinated by the little fish more so over the larger ones. She loved the penguins too!

I'm sure we'll be back this year, and we're thinking of investing in a membership if not this year, next year for sure! If you haven't been to the zoo in a while, what are you waiting for? Go! And go early! And have fun!