The Little Rock Zoo
Feb 20th, 2008 by Bethany
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Yesterday the kids and I went to the zoo with my friend Natalie and her baby, Blake. We got three solid hours of sunshine and fresh air and exercise–it was awesome after what seems like months of being cooped up inside a little apartment.
The Little Rock Zoo was somewhat larger than I expected it to be, but nowhere near the size of the Phoenix Zoo or the Hogle Zoo in Utah. There is a big carousel there that plays loud carnival music, so as you enter the zoo it feels like you’re going into a circus. They charge admission for kids 1-12 years old, but all the local phone books have coupons in the back for free kids admission with paying adult so the kids were free and I felt like we got a good deal that way. There are a couple of nice-sized parking lots (which were pretty empty anyway yesterday), and we didn’t have to walk any farther than we’d normally have to from the car to the grocery store. Distance walked near a busy street with two strollers and an independent 3-year-old is an important factor. After slathering everyone in SPF 50, we got our tickets and got started.
There were only a few other people at the zoo that day, and it almost felt like we had the place to ourselves. We let Degen run all around the winding paths to see the animals–he was usually more interested in running than in the animals, but when I was able to get him to stop for a minute and look at an animal he was really enthusiastic. We started with a large spider monkey exhibit, and Degen was so excited to see them jumping and playing and running around the trees and jungle-gym-like contraption. Maggie in the stroller was much calmer about the whole thing and once she spotted the animals she just waved, smiled, and said “hi.” Next, we moved on to the tropical aviary, which also housed a bunch more monkeys and reptiles and even some bugs. I think some of the bugs, like the cockroach that crawled over my shoe, were native to the area and not part of the exhibit, but overall it was pretty neat. They had exotic birds running around under tall trees and in a creek that ran through the center. At first Degen was afraid of the birds, but once he realized that they weren’t interested in bugging him he decided that all the noise they made was pretty fun. He really liked the monkeys, but more than that he liked talking to the other kids his age and trying to get them to look at the same animals he wanted to see.
Maggie learned how to say “snake” and “turtle” yesterday in the reptile exhibit. Then we walked on to see the giraffes–they were doing a neat neck dance together outside. We somehow missed the lions, but we got to see foxes and bears and ocelots and a humongous rodent that I can’t remember the name of. We walked by an area where some construction was going on and both Maggie and Degen loved seeing the trucks. Who knew that construction equipment would be a highlight of our day at the zoo?
The part of the petting zoo with the geese was closed, but it was only fenced with waist-high chain link and the geese honked at us and followed Degen around the perimeter (to his great delight!). Maggie used her best duck impression to quack back at the friendly geese. We never did find out if the part of the petting zoo with the sheep was open because Degen spotted the little park with slides and booked it there as fast as he could. Natalie and I sat on the benches for about 15 minutes and fed Blake and Maggie (Black got a bottle, Maggie some graham crackers) while Degen slid down those slides and told the three or four other kids there how to do it, too. He was so patient about waiting for the smaller kids to get off the bottom of the slide before he went down, and he listened to the other adults when they gave him directions. I was very proud of him. Maggie went down the slide a couple of times before we decided to go find more animals.
We saw chimpanzees and gorillas and pelicans and swans and I don’t remember what else. The man running the carousel was sweet and made it go around a couple of times even though no one else was there so that Degen could see the horses go (Degen was afraid to touch the horses, so he didn’t want to ride the carousel). After three hours of walking and admiring the animals, we were all ready to get in the car and go home–especially Maggie, who fell asleep at the carousel. All three kids were asleep by the time I dropped Natalie and Blake off at their apartment. Thanks for being such great company Natalie! I had a great time on our February outing.
