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Richard's wife, Beth (is she my second cousin too?) told the kids about "Monkey Hill" at dinner the previous evening and that was all they cared about.
The elephants? Eh.
White Tiger? Eh.
Petting Zoo. Actually quite enthralling.
But as enthralling as it was, there was a constant chorus of, "When will we get to Monkey Hill?"
And what is so great about monkey hill you ask? Well it has nothing to do with monkeys. It's just a sweet little place to get wet and frolic. And frolic we did.
Satchel was actually most interested in the stinging caterpillar camp adjacent to Monkey Hill.
Once everyone was cooled off and finally back in their shoes, we proceeded onto other exhibits. Because we were in such a rush to see Monkey Hill, we missed most of the African Sahara exhibit, which looked HUGE and amazing from afar. We did, however, get to see the giraffes. They were very friendly and were close enough to pet, though none of us did.
Next we went to the Louisiana Swamp exhibit to see alligators and mean beaver like things that spent a good 30 minutes trying to eat a turtle. (He finally got away.) We stopped at the Swamp Cafe for some gumbo, chicken tenders, and hot dogs so we didn't end up crazy like the day before.
After lunch, we spent ages feeding ducks, turtles, and fish. (The boys discovered that for some reason the food pellet dispenser dispensed pellets without quarters.) Eventually we were able to lure them away into the Rainforest exhibit where they got to play archaeologist.
Then we saw the real monkeys, which were numerous and quite active. The gorilla who sat next to the rail and imitated onlookers definitely stole the show. (Especially when he picked his nose and stuck his fingers in his ears.)
But there was one creature that was even more astounding than the gorilla. The peacock. Here are the kids trying to act invisible so it won't fly off.
I'm sure there was more than one, but it seemed like this one was following us throughout the zoo, amazing us with his fifteen foot trail of feathers and tree climbing skills. I can actually remember seeing peacocks when my grandmother took me to the zoo a million years ago. I don't know how long they live, so maybe it was the same one(s)? (Wikipedia says 15 years in the wild, up to 40 years in captivity.)
We got some sticky candy crap, watched the sea lions a bit, and then ventured into the reptile house, which was actually a little disappointing. The whole time we were inside we were being shadowed by two people dressed in khaki. Finally a man approached me and said, "Mam, we're closing."
"Huh? Wah?" I said. "The whole zoo?"
"Yes," he said.
I looked at my clock--4:45. We'd been walking around for nearly five hours! We filled up our water bottles and headed towards St. Charles Avenue to catch the streetcar home. To get to St. Charles we had to walk through Audubon Park. I remembered there being lots of old oaks that were fun to climb, but we didn't see any. We did however see lots of ducks, turtles, squirrels, nesting birds, lizards, golfers, bikers, joggers, and a playground.
I really wished I had my skates.
It took us over an hour to get to the streetcar, and by the time we got home, we were all flumpeltated.
My mom & nephew spent the day with Nancy on a Katrina Tour (via air-conditioned minivan), so they had a lot more energy than we did. Nancy cooked a fabulous dinner and we all had a much needed rest.
Once the monkeys were bathed and settled in for the evening, Warren and I went for a walk down Bourbon Street. Too tired to drink giant daiquiris or visit the many strip clubs, we mostly people-watched, window-shopped, and searched for souvenir t-shirts for the boys.
1 comment:
That monkey watering hole looks fantabulous.
I remember peacocks wandering freely around the Memphis Zoo, too, when I was a kidlet 20 years ago. They were so awesome...
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