Zoo Zoo Zoo

We had the chance to take our Calvert Group to the Zoo last week. Plans were made, lunches packed, website visited in advance to plan our zoo assault. The morning dawned cool and cloudy, and there was only a 40% chance of rain. We always look forward to our field trip adventures – and it is always a chance to get to know a new Calvert family.

Driving up through Baltimore with a student driver is always an adventure. It is not that I object to the student driver; it is more that I dislike the crazy folk in Baltimore who believe that stopping at crosswalks is optional and that yellow lights mean, in the words of Starman, “Go very fast!” By the time we got to the zoo, we were all a little stressed from the trip!

Gathering was easy – but we missed the families who didn’t make it for one reason or another.

Once inside the zoo, our first “ambassador” was a Northern Screech owl, sitting on a volunteer’s hand to greet us. What a fascinating creature – he was beautifully colored, his feathers so perfectly reflecting the fall colors of the leaves that it was easy to see why he would be invisible in a tree canopy.

The tram into the zoo was fun and quick – boy has this place changed since it was once known as the “animal prison!” The have really endeavored to make it an experiential adventure and it was a great one.

The 40% chance of rain meant a 20-minute soaking rain, and although we were chilly, it was not something we attended to very much because the animals liked it just fine. The jaguars and lions and monkeys were all enjoying the cool fall weather.

Each of us had a different favorite part of the day – one of us loved lunch (those carefully packed lunches that we left at home were replaced by hot, juicy chicken fingers – makes you wonder if the kid responsible for lunch left them at home on purpose.)

The cheetahs, the polar bears, the otters and the bats were all deemed family favorites. The only thing we missed on our adventures were the penguins – they were undergoing housekeeping. I wish I could keep house with a hose sometimes! THAT would be a way to rid myself of the Lego mess underfoot!

We learned a couple of lessons during our zoo adventure: (1) rain slickers would have been a good idea, despite the weather report; (2) visiting the website and planning our trip made for the best time because we all got to see something we were looking forward to; (3) there is no replacement for spending time together as a family.