I meant to post this a while ago, but haven't had the chance. So without further ado...
My mom and dad came out for a day trip and we decided to check out the
Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium. Adam had to work most of the day, so after brunch at the Dor-Stop, we went our separate ways.
My parents are members of the Cleveland Zoo, so they got half price tickets, which was awesome. My ticket was full price though, so it ended up being like we got one entry free. Moral of the story, if you're a member at another zoo, check to see if the zoo you're visiting offers discounts. My mom even got a 10% discount at the gift shop with her Cleveland Zoo pass (we totally weren't expecting that)!
We entered the park and saw chalk artists drawing signs on the ground welcoming people to Family Week at the zoo. There were different character appearances and other activities for kids around the park, although I don't remember seeing anything while we were there. We must have missed whatever it was, since we didn't grab a schedule of events.
One of the first animals we ran into on our journey around the zoo was the
Amur leopard - such an incredibly beautiful animal. He was pacing back and forth along the glass, which was a little unnerving, but he just looked really hot. I had to sympathize, we were all hot.
Next up were the flamingos. They were really active, walking around, squawking, you know, doing things flamingos do. I'm a huge flamingo fan, they're such beautiful and unusual animals.
In the African Savanna we saw a mama rhino and her baby. Soooo cute! It's funny how the baby looks so small compared to the mama, but on its own it looks so massive.
In this section we also saw an African lady lion hanging out on a rock.
And around the corner was a group of gazelles and ostriches.
The last animals we saw in the savanna were the elephants and giraffes. One of the elephants looked quite young, although I'm not sure if it was a mother and her little one or not. They were practically inseparable though, which made me think they were.
After the savanna, we walked into the Tropical Forest, which was wicked hot (even hotter and more humid than outside, which we thought was bad enough). Inside here were a bunch of different primates from all over the world, including howler monkeys, gorillas, lemurs, and many others. Unfortunately, we didn't get a chance to see the baby gorilla that had just been born (sad face).
They were renovating the bear exhibits, so we only got to partially see a black bear. He kept pacing in and out of his cave - it was tough to see him. We moved on to the last exhibits at the zoo, which were in the PPG Aquarium. Holy moly was it crowded in there. It was a nice little aquarium, clean and had lots of different fish. Reminded me a lot of the aquarium at the Cal Academy of Science.
While we were there, a guy was inside the shark tank cleaning it with a brush. All the kids around were totally loving that and waving to him.
I have to say, the penguin exhibit at the National Aviary was much better than the zoo's. It felt like a cramped dark room that was packed with people and scooters and strollers you could hardly move around. I took a few snaps and got out of there pronto.
On the way back to the park exit we passed by the polar bear, who was playing with a giant block of ice and some otters who were enjoying the water.
After the zoo, we met back up with Adam and had dinner at Hofbräuhaus, which we figured my mom would like, because she's a fan of the German Biergarten down in Disney and this was the most Disney-like restaurant in Pittsburgh. Music, beer, dancing, you know fun stuff. The beer is great here too.
Good times.
