Southwick's Zoo
On Saturday, with a sapphire blue sky above our heads to match our boy's baby blues, we set off for an adventure at Southwick's Zoo. It is a medium sized private zoo in Massachusetts and has the largest variety of animals in the state with a lot of the "zoo all stars": tigers, lions, chimps, rhinos and giraffes. I was a little suspicious of a private zoo, especially because they do not belong to the AZA, but it was close and had the best roster, so Southwick's it was.
Isaac, of course, had a blast. This kid is nothing if not an animal fan. From house cats to wholly horses, he loves them all, as our visit to Davis Farm proved. This zoo began as a bird refuge for parrots and the like that either were mistreated as pets or escaped. As such, they had a brilliant array of birds of all sorts and colors. In fact, they were the first thing to greet us as we walked in. We were sitting at the edge of their enclosure when I said "Hello." I had a guess that the birds at the entrance could say hello, but Isaac had no idea. When the snow white three foot macaw returned the greeting Isaac just about lost it. He pointed and grunted and grabbed at his Mommy to make sure she heard. And then the macaw did it again. It was an auspicious beginning.
Next we hit the rhino enclosure after bouncing around seeing a few random kangaroos and wallabies. Isaac had never seen anything as large as a rhino before and so when they started charging each other and snorting he was really, really interested. He got a super serious look on his face as if he was not exactly sure the enclosure would hold the massive beasts. Here is the look:
After that we visited the big cats, passing a super nice enclosure for the spotted leopard (imagine a Great Dane sized cat living in a massive tree). Then past some pacing tigers in a massive enclosure. Isaac was enthralled in silent squiggly-pigginess. See:
After that it was off to the lions. Lions, you know, sleep something like 20 hours a day. So when we visited them they were just basically rugs on the grass. After that we went past the warthogs and sang a little "Hakuna Matata". Then it was off to the massive deer park. You can walk through the forest and in and amongst a herd of deer. It was quite scenic, but Isaac didn't really seem to care:
Then we strolled around looking for the chimp display. On our way we passed the Mandrills. They were really spectacular and their butts do shine a cobalt blue. There were two small Mandrills and a mother and a father Mandrill. And then, just as if I had a checklist of zoo experiences, we saw the monkeys do something gross and/or sexual. The male Mandrill approached the female Mandrill from behind and picked a piece of crust from the butt of the female Mandrill. Yew, right? Then he ATE IT! Monkeys at the zoo being gross/funny, check.
From there it was on to the camels, llamas, zebras, water buffalo, alligators, and ostriches. All of which were nice. Isaac seemed to like the camel the most. It was a Bactrin Camel (two humps) and we checked everywhere for a two hump poop, like Everyone Poops said, but it was not there. After some random monkeys and birds we saw Isaac's favorite animal. It was massive, staggeringly beautiful, and surprisingly fast. It was a giraffe. The enclosure is really nice (well, the new one is) and Isaac went totally, completely bonkers. The giraffe's head was probably no more than two feet away. Here is a snippet of the end of that encounter:
Safe to say that was worth the price of admission. Isaac has never been so memorized in his entire life. The new giraffe display was excellent, truly excellent.
On our way to the petting zoo, we got a thrill. Echoing through the New England woods was a grumbling that shook the ground. Instantly Isaac's blues flashed excitement. Instantly Bianca and I looked at each other. The lions were awake and the male was ROARING. Dad grabbed Isaac out of the stroller and like a mad man I gripped him tight and together we sprinted from the giraffe enclosure all the way back to the lion enclosure. Here is a map to show just how far we ran. We didn't make it to see them roaring, but we did see them away and the lions were awesome. Isaac was locked in on the male lion, who was, incidentally, the most majestic lion I have ever seen (perhaps it is all the Aslan we are getting right now as we are going through the Chronicles of Naria).
Then we went to the final major display, which was Isaac's favorite, the petting zoo. There were about a million kids, half were humans, half were goats. Here he is in his absolute glory:
All in all, it was an awesome day, probably three solid hours at the zoo. Isaac had a great time as did Mom and Dad.
Isaac, of course, had a blast. This kid is nothing if not an animal fan. From house cats to wholly horses, he loves them all, as our visit to Davis Farm proved. This zoo began as a bird refuge for parrots and the like that either were mistreated as pets or escaped. As such, they had a brilliant array of birds of all sorts and colors. In fact, they were the first thing to greet us as we walked in. We were sitting at the edge of their enclosure when I said "Hello." I had a guess that the birds at the entrance could say hello, but Isaac had no idea. When the snow white three foot macaw returned the greeting Isaac just about lost it. He pointed and grunted and grabbed at his Mommy to make sure she heard. And then the macaw did it again. It was an auspicious beginning.
Next we hit the rhino enclosure after bouncing around seeing a few random kangaroos and wallabies. Isaac had never seen anything as large as a rhino before and so when they started charging each other and snorting he was really, really interested. He got a super serious look on his face as if he was not exactly sure the enclosure would hold the massive beasts. Here is the look:
After that we visited the big cats, passing a super nice enclosure for the spotted leopard (imagine a Great Dane sized cat living in a massive tree). Then past some pacing tigers in a massive enclosure. Isaac was enthralled in silent squiggly-pigginess. See:
After that it was off to the lions. Lions, you know, sleep something like 20 hours a day. So when we visited them they were just basically rugs on the grass. After that we went past the warthogs and sang a little "Hakuna Matata". Then it was off to the massive deer park. You can walk through the forest and in and amongst a herd of deer. It was quite scenic, but Isaac didn't really seem to care:
Then we strolled around looking for the chimp display. On our way we passed the Mandrills. They were really spectacular and their butts do shine a cobalt blue. There were two small Mandrills and a mother and a father Mandrill. And then, just as if I had a checklist of zoo experiences, we saw the monkeys do something gross and/or sexual. The male Mandrill approached the female Mandrill from behind and picked a piece of crust from the butt of the female Mandrill. Yew, right? Then he ATE IT! Monkeys at the zoo being gross/funny, check.
From there it was on to the camels, llamas, zebras, water buffalo, alligators, and ostriches. All of which were nice. Isaac seemed to like the camel the most. It was a Bactrin Camel (two humps) and we checked everywhere for a two hump poop, like Everyone Poops said, but it was not there. After some random monkeys and birds we saw Isaac's favorite animal. It was massive, staggeringly beautiful, and surprisingly fast. It was a giraffe. The enclosure is really nice (well, the new one is) and Isaac went totally, completely bonkers. The giraffe's head was probably no more than two feet away. Here is a snippet of the end of that encounter:
Safe to say that was worth the price of admission. Isaac has never been so memorized in his entire life. The new giraffe display was excellent, truly excellent.
On our way to the petting zoo, we got a thrill. Echoing through the New England woods was a grumbling that shook the ground. Instantly Isaac's blues flashed excitement. Instantly Bianca and I looked at each other. The lions were awake and the male was ROARING. Dad grabbed Isaac out of the stroller and like a mad man I gripped him tight and together we sprinted from the giraffe enclosure all the way back to the lion enclosure. Here is a map to show just how far we ran. We didn't make it to see them roaring, but we did see them away and the lions were awesome. Isaac was locked in on the male lion, who was, incidentally, the most majestic lion I have ever seen (perhaps it is all the Aslan we are getting right now as we are going through the Chronicles of Naria).
Then we went to the final major display, which was Isaac's favorite, the petting zoo. There were about a million kids, half were humans, half were goats. Here he is in his absolute glory:
All in all, it was an awesome day, probably three solid hours at the zoo. Isaac had a great time as did Mom and Dad.