This time, the zoo was more driving around on the expressway than behind the bars.
We gathered up the kids and my mom and sped out to the Philadelphia Zoo on Sunday. There was a sort of time constraint, since I would be picking up Pat from 30th Street Station at 4pm, so we left around noon. The drive took a couple of hours because they were doing some crazy construction on the expressway. Three lanes of traffic merging into one - amazing. Just before we hit the traffic the Low Fuel light came on, and I taunted Mom with it the rest of the ride. “Low Fuel” in Berta’s car means “3 gallons left”, so there was plenty of gas to get us to the zoo.
When we arrived, we bought a family pass for the year, since it was only $10 more expensive than the admission for everyone, and we can come whenever we want until the end of next June. We did the same thing at the Franklin Institute when we took some of Berta’s family there during their visit, except it was cheaper to get the family pass even for just one visit since we had so many people.
Abby really wanted to see the giraffes, so after Mom rented her a stroller we zipped out in that direction. Along the way we saw some monkies and two polar bears loafing around in the heat. One of the bears was in the water, which was probably a good idea - it was so hot. We saw some zebras and antelope, too. These plains animals were so still in the heat, they could have been stuffed and we wouldn’t have known the difference.
The giraffes were next. They weren’t as tall as I remembered, but still pretty big. I think they must shuffle their animals around so that they don’t get bored with the same enclosure year after year.
We started heading over toward the elephants, which Abby wanted to see next, and after a brief stop at the bear enclosure (different bears) it was time to pick up Pat.
The girls and Riley all stayed at the zoo while I made the trip over to the train station, so I’m not sure what to say about these other zoo photos other than, “They must have seen that stuff.” I did run past the penguin bin on the way out, but didn’t have the camera at the time. It’s strange that they keep the penguins outside in the heat. I thought they were more cool-weather animals. Oh, well.
After I picked up Pat (a harrowing experience in the parking garage under the station deserving of it’s own story) we came back and parked in the same lot. I called Berta and told them we were waiting for them, and eventually they came out. While we were waiting, I got some gas, so the drive home was a little less stressful on Mom.
