Looking at the weather forecast for the week, we knew our only chance to get to the Zoo was Monday. Rain was forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday. My brother-in-law had gotten on the computer and showed Syd videos of the baby giraffe. She was very excited, and she knew all about the giraffe. I don't know if she was more excited to see the giraffe or the polar bears!
We left Monday morning, stopping at Cracker Barrel for breakfast. Then it was off to the zoo. The zoo is also a botanical garden, and it was done up with the most beautiful tulip beds throughout the zoo. The zoo is also very hilly, and you find yourself walking up or down a hill all day. We took Syd's stroller, and my poor dad pushed it all over the zoo. Inclines really hurt both of my parents' knees, and I know they were both hurting by the end of the day.
We went into the eagle area, and the eagle was right in front of us, just on the other side of the gate. Sydney wanted to see everything. We all refused to take her into the reptile house. But she wanted to go in the insect house. This child screams at anything she thinks is a bug, yet she wanted to go into the insect house. My mother said no. Dad looked at me. So I went with her into the insect house. And what is the first thing we see? A tarantula. I felt light-headed. For those who don't know, I HATE SPIDERS. I am terrified of them. Just the night before, I looked up from the computer and saw one the size of my thumb on the door. Normally, I would yell until Erich came downstairs (he calls it my spider yell). Since my parents and Syd were all asleep upstairs, I went upstairs, knocked on Erich's door, and told him to come downstairs. Another morning, I was headed down the stairs and I froze, because I spotted a small spider on the wall. Dad looked up, sighed, and grabbed a kleenex. I told him 'some things never change'. So here I am, in the insect house, staring at a tarantula. Yes, it's behind glass. And no, that is no comfort to me. I urge Syd to get to the next cage. She goes up to each glass cage, fascinated by all the creepy crawling things. My skin crawls just thinking of it. There was a boy her age who ran away crying 'I don't like all these bugs!' But it didn't bother Syd.
After we finished the insect house, she wanted to go into the nocturnal house. My parents were taking a much needed rest, so I went with her. The last time I was at the Cincinnati Zoo was in 2002. Laura and Andy had come to visit, and we went to the zoo. The guys wanted to go into the nocturnal house, and Andy convinced my sister to go. She did ok until she saw the bats. Then she grabbed my hand. When my sister saw the vampire bats, she screamed and froze. She wanted to get out of there, but could not make her legs move. I had to drag her out of the nocturnal house. With this memory in mind, I took Syd into the nocturnal house. The bats didn't bother her. She grabbed my hand, but she didn't scream. We did leave kind of quickly though, because it was too dark for her. She had told me before we went in that she was only a little scared of the dark.
Connected to the nocturnal house is the Dragons exhibit. This is where the Komodo Dragons are. She said she didn't want to go, but changed her mind when I explained to her that they were basically big lizards. Lizards don't bother her. I also decided she had dragged me into the insect house, she was going in the dragon house! The Komodo Dragon wasn't as impressive as I thought it would be. Maybe because it was indoors, not outside that day. I wasn't able to get any good pictures of it. Maybe if it were outdoors and I could have gotten pictures, it would have seemed more interesting.
The Zoo has a Carousel and playground, and Sydney found both. She told me she wanted to ride the carousel alone. Fortunately, she was almost tall enough, and the girl operating the carousel said she was ok (she was less than an inch below the 'you must be this tall' line). You would think she got on the polar bear, but no, she hopped on the giraffe. Giraffes might be her new favorite animal. She loves carousels. When the carousel ride ended, she told Dad 'there's a playground over there!' and off we went. It gave my parents and I a chance to sit down, and she played. There were two girls who were maybe 8 trying to go up the slide from the bottom, and when Syd slid down it she hit them. So she told them they were wrong, you were supposed to slide down it, not walk up it. She kept reporting back to us, and finally, the girls did it the right way.
We saw rhinos (which Sydney kept telling us were pregnant), tigers, zebras, and finally- we were at the bear section. One of the polar bears was swimming, and you could see into the pool from below the water level, so she got to see the polar bear in the water. There were others playing, and she had a great time watching the polar bears. Once she had her fill of them, she wanted to go to the giraffes. We took a short train ride. Anyone can ride the train, but it's hard to fold yourself into the seat if you are an adult. The train takes you over some of the exhibits, and you find yourself looking down onto the zebras. You are on this rickety wooden bridge, with no railing on one side. The narrative says the train was put in shortly after the zoo opened in 1875. You can really believe it has been there that long, and the bridge has too. It was a pleasant trip though. Sydney said she chose it because she thought we all needed a break.
We kept asking her if she wanted an ice cream. It was about 75, and mostly cloudy. When the sun came out it got hot, and of course all the walking was exhausting. Every time we asked her about ice cream, she turned us down. She may have been the only child saying no to ice cream.
Finally, we made our way to the giraffe exhibit. There was a line to see Zuri, the 16 day old giraffe. It was also giraffe feeding time, and there was a line to feed Kimba, the daddy giraffe. The mom and baby were in the giraffe house. You looked in through a window to see them. The giraffe house is very tall, obviously, to house all the giraffes. The viewing window is near the ceiling of the house, so you look down onto the giraffes. There really wasn't any way to take pictures, because you were shooting into glass, and there was such a crowd. Sydney decided she didn't like the name Zuri, so she renamed the baby giraffe Athena. She has a new friend at school named Athena.
We wanted to feed the daddy giraffe, and as we were finishing up looking at mommy and baby, they announced last call for feeding. Sydney and I rushed to the feeding line. The giraffe exhibit is set up so that you are at the same level as the giraffe's heads- it's a tree top exhibit. A very different perspective, normally you find yourself looking up at the giraffes. We bought our crackers- $1 bought you one cracker, which was roughly the size of a saltine. Mom bought us each one. We had been busy looking at the baby, so I did not hear them say how to feed the daddy. I turned to ask the zookeeper, and Kimba took the cracker right out of my hand. People had been feeding him for an hour, and he acted like he was starved. I felt something slimy on my hand, and when I turned my head, the cracker was gone and I was eye to eye with an adult giraffe. I had expected to still be looking up a little. It was so unusual to look a giraffe in the eye. It was easy to forget tha
t this is a wild animal. His big brown eyes were soft and gentle, yet had a playful sparkle in them. His eyes were framed by the most luxurious eyelashes. I can see why they said 'do not pet the giraffe'. Because you wanted to. You wanted to reach out and stroke his long soft nose. It was a moment I wanted to freeze forever.Sydney did have to reach up to the giraffe, but he was gentle with her too. He took the cracker out of her hand very quickly, causing her to erupt in giggles. There are few moments that take your breath away. Looking a giraffe in the eye was one of them for me. It was so sweet, so perfect. Even though it was just a brief encounter, I felt it all the way through my soul. If you go to the zoo, I highly recommend you go to the giraffe exhibit at feeding time. It was amazing.
We finished our trip with a visit to the elephants. By this point, the three adults were dragging. Sydney seemed a little tired, and we hoped she would take a nap in the car. She didn't. She played quietly with the new toys she bought at the gift shop, but she didn't sleep. That night, when she talked to her parents, they asked 'what did you do today?' and she told them 'nothing'. Then she did tell them she saw the baby giraffe and fed the daddy. She'll have a lot to tell her friends when she goes back to school. It was a great day at the zoo!
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