Free Admission Day at the Zoo

On Monday, MLK day, there was no school. It was also one of the eight days this year that the Denver Zoo offered free admission.

Kylie and I went. We tried to get our neighbor and her two kids to go with us, but she was afraid it would be too crowded, blah blah.

Well, it was crowded. The only bad part about that was trying to find a parking space. But we finally did, and since it was just Ky and me, I didn't mind the crowds.

Of course, did the child bring a sweatshirt when I told her to? Of course not. So there went my plan of not spending any money, because I had to buy her a sweatshirt as soon as we got there. At least there were some on the clearance rack.

So here are some pictures of our day at the zoo:


A cheetah!

Another cheetah!

The elephant exhibit has both an indoor and outdoor section, so you can see the animals even if they're inside. Today, they were inside. This is the indoor part of the elephant exhibit. All I have to say about this is that elephants are stinky.

Mountain goats aren't really stinky. Then again, they're out in the open.

Penguin!

This grizzly looked like he was practicing to be a rug.

The other grizzly was on alert, ready to protect his rug friend.

Hey everybody! It's Julianuary! I guess this is only funny if you watched Merry Madagascar over the holidays. Several times.

This is the Lorikeet Adventure. It's an open-air exhibit, and you can buy a small cup of nectar and actually feed the birds. These birds are so colorful and beautiful.

If you do it right, sometimes they'll actually walk off a branch and onto your hand for their sweet drink.

This guy on Kylie's hand seemed to be enjoying his. Or hers.

How far can she jump?

About as far as a penguin, five feet. Farther than a flea, but not quite as far as a jackrabbit.

Kylie loves her some penguins.

We got to the sea lion exhibit just in time for a demonstration. This is Lucy the sea lion with her trainer.

Lucy waving hello to the crowd.

And sunning herself on a rock.

This is a little cubbyhole thing that kids can walk into. I could walk in too, if I ducked down just a bit.

Right next to the zoo is a great park with a huge playground.

I wanted to find out the name of the park so we could come back and find it again. (It's right next to the zoo, duh)

I was still curious about the name though. But every sign I saw just said it was a city park.

The wooden play structure is huge. I mean huge. It took me three pictures to photograph the whole thing.

Kylie loved it. We'll definitely be back. It would be better if the ground wasn't soaked with melting snow. Spring seems like a nice time to come back here.

I finally discovered that the name of the park is City Park. So it's not just a city park, but the City Park. I'm a little slow sometimes.