ZOO!

I cannot remember the last time we took the kids to the zoo! In years past I would buy a membership each year, but when the economy went down they raised the price of the memberships. I emailed them a nasty letter stating why it was such a awful thing to do when so many families were struggling financially, and I haven't bought a membership since and don't foresee myself buying one in the future.
Anyway, we had free tickets on Saturday which is why we decided to take the boys. I was shocked to see they now charge $12.75 for an adult...are you KIDDING ME? Wow. Just, wow.
I had a 22 mile training run up Emigration that morning so by the time we got to the zoo I was dead tired. We all walked in slow motion the entire afternoon. I just had nothing left to give. The boys were more fun at the zoo than they had ever been when they were younger. They got such a kick out of everything! Their reactions were priceless and they wanted to see everything. We brought a lunch so halfway through we found a table and sat down to eat. The new exhibits at the zoo were pretty fantastic. The sea lions were playing, the otters were swimming, the lions were more active than we've ever seen. They were swimming, coming up to the glass to look at us, and they played with the ball. In the past we always had to look hard to even see them so this was pretty awesome.
While the upgrades were great, it made us sad because it is definitely not the zoo we grew up with. I remember the tigers behind bars, with their roars echoing throughout the lion house and the stuffed liger on display. There were machine to put quarters in that would make various animals out of a waxy substance while you watched, and they smelled of warm wax when they came out of the machine...to a kid that was pretty neat to actually see a toy being made. There also used to be an instant photo both that I used quite a bit. I'd put in my quarters and a few minutes later have a strip of four pictures come out. The hippos used to be down in a square pool with all the items they had recovered from his "cage" behind plastic on the wall. The monkey's used to be below ground level in a round concrete pit with their playground surrounded by water.
 The improvements are obviously more humane for the animals, but it was hard to recognize anything. Even the iconic elephant house has been torn down. All the name of progress I guess. We had a fun time with the boys, the best part being their reactions. All in all, a good day.