Houston Zoo

On what we hoped was the coolest day of the week, we ventured out to the Houston Zoo. I'm still trying to figure out why anyone lives in this hot state, and the trip to the zoo didn't convince me to move here!! It was cool, for about 45 minutes after an absolute downpour during lunch, but other than that, it was hot, sticky, sweaty, and humid. I was literally melting!!







The Houston Zoo is nice. It is a lot bigger than the National Zoo. We actually needed to plot our course on the map at the beginning to make sure we saw everything. They have a really neat kids area where you can see some animals more "up close and personal", such as the "pop up" tubes in the middle of the Prairie Dog hill. They also had an petting zoo, where you could visit with goats - although they ran under cover quickly when it started to sprinkle.






I think my favorite part of the park was the Primate display. They have lots of different monkeys, gorillas, chimps, etc. Watch this video of the gorillas howling - literally - at each other. It is pretty funny and could be heard throughout the primate display (it's a little long but worth it)



The Orangutans were sweet. There was a mother with her baby. For starters, the "man" in the cage was lounging against the window of the pen while Mama chased the baby around. The mother demonstrated many of the same behaviors you see in people - the baby tried to run away and she grabbed her ankle so she couldn't go far, she played rough and tumble with her baby - all for us to see - and then sighed and moved off when the baby ran off and she had to chase him. It was cute.






It was a very nice zoo - probably even better when its not 100 degrees outside!

We enjoyed every opportunity to view the INSIDE displays - even though the kids favorite one was the Reptile House. And I think the heat was too much for Emma - I'm not sure we were out of the parking lot before she was asleep in her car seat!!

And, I'll leave you with a calming video of the sea turtle swimming in his tank in the Aquarium.