Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

I was feeling guilty. Why were going to a zoo in a city 45 minutes away when we already had a season pass to a zoo only 30 minutes away? But I learned something. I learned I will never go back to the Denver Zoo. Ever. Why would I when we have Cheyenne Mountain Zoo which is prettier, cooler, less crowded, and quieter. Did I mentioned cooler and less crowded? The Denver Zoo is well...a zoo, with masses of people everywhere. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, in Colorado Springs, is built on a mountain. There are tons of trees, cool breezes and not a lot of people. Sure, there are less animals, but they are in serene settings and we are never able to look at all the animals anyway.

The highlight of this zoo is giraffe feeding. Mia loved it. She had no fear of their big black tongues and was even petting the giraffes through the bar.

On the other hand, Anna is saying, "You want me to do what with this??!! That is not going to happen!"

After that we walked past the new elephant exhibit under construction and stopped at a docent table where they were talking about the differences between rhinoceroses and elephants. Mia really listened and like petting the hides and feeling the teeth and tusks.

We had a banana snack by the alligator pit.

Next it was the aviary. Mia tired to get the birds to come to her while she held out the feeding stick but she didn't have much luck.

Daddy came to the rescue, however.

Next the girls boarded the train.

Anna is quite strong. She could push Mia in the stroller, although only round in circles.

When we entered the zoo, we bought tickets to the Sky Ride. Being Southern California natives, we thought buckets like at Disneyland. We didn't think ski lift. Both Dan and I decided we weren't up for that with kids this young.

So we looked at the moose, grizzlies and wallabies then headed to the petting zoo. None of the animals were there as it was a Friday, but the girls got to be dinosaurs hatching and spiders in a web.

We stopped at the carousel on our way to see the new baby gorilla and hippos. It was a really fast carousel. I almost fell down when it started and Anna climbed off her horse once she had had enough and I ended up holding her for the rest of the ride. Not fun for someone as uncoordinated as myself.

We felt bad for this hippo thinking this was all the room he had until we went outside and saw the larger part of the exhibit.

Feeding chickens was so much fun.

We loved the hands-on opportunities at this zoo. The girls got to feed giraffes, chickens and birds. Dan was find with all that. But he had a hard time with this...

He is not a snake person. At all. Mia held both the king snake and python. Anna did touch the king snake, but we didn't get a picture.

What a great day! We all had so much fun.