Zoo Days

(Ok, yes, I know, not the best picture of us, but it is us in the zoo. For those of you who know me, I was hangry at this point, thus Eric had to carry the bag. It did, however, have all the books that he insisted we bring, and also the four free energy drinks we received upon exiting the subway.)

Wow! Hard to believe it has been more than a month since our last post! Well, we are back, and with a lot of stored up adventures and information for you all!

As fall rolls in there is always a scramble to find outside things to do "while the weather is still nice!" So, let me recommend a wonderful inside/outside adventure that also happens to be free! Can you imagine something better? No, I didn't think so.

Eric and I recently ventured up to Lincoln Park to visit the Lincoln Park Zoo. I am aware that most people think zoos are a great trip; lots to learn, a chance to see things (by things I suppose I mean animals) that you would never otherwise see, etc etc etc. However, after a particularly scarring experience with a European zoo during a trip to Spain, I had sworn off zoos. On this particular weekend, though, Judy (my mother in law) was in town, and we were determined to show her as much of the city as we could, for as little money as possible!

I say that the zoo is a great inside/outside adventure because on our trip it happened to rain. Or more accurately, pour! For a long time. At a lot of zoos (I suspect--again, very little zoo experience!) this could be a bummer. However, at the Lincoln Park zoo this gave us an opportunity to thoroughly enjoy the inside exhibits. These include an extensive monkey (primate?) exhibit, a beautiful "jungle" theme exhibit with a lot of birds & warm weather small animals, and the exhilarating tiger/jaguar/lion exhibit!

My favorite exhibit of the day was the bat house. The bats were cool, sure, but the underground rats were insane! They had no hair, and the plaque next to the cage said that this is because they live underground and never see the sunlight. If they ever came above ground they would not survive because their bodies are not built for that.

For the city dwellers, I also really recommend the farm exhibit. Here you will have the chance to learn about farming and gardening, and also visiting the more common animals--cows, pigs, chickens, even rabbits.

All things considered the Lincoln Park Zoo is totally worth a visit if you are trying to do the city on a budget. Even for those of you not crazy about zoos!

Here are some things to consider:

• Unless you are staying in Lincoln Park make a trip to www.hopstop.com before you head to the zoo. You're way out there in Lincoln Park, which can make finding the subway stops difficult.
  
• If you're staying downtown, you can take the brown line or the red line. I would suggest the red during the day, and the brown after it gets dark.
  
• Bring a bottle of water and some small snacks. There is a snack pavilion, but I think that we spent $1.50 on a snack size bag of pretzels, and passed on drinks all together because of the outrages prices!
• When you enter the Zoo, take the time to view the map posted near the entrance. It can be kind of confusing and disorienting once you're in there, and you may end up walking in circles. (Oh, and to help, the buildings all look pretty similar!)