We had a great field trip to the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo today.
First, I love that we got to go to Cheyenne Mountain. I'm enough of a geek to think "Cheyenne Mountain = Stargate", so I got a kick out of driving toward the mountain and feeling like it looking familiar from the TV show.
Second, the zoo is actually kind of built into the side of the mountain. It's beautiful -- surrounded by lots of spruce and pine and great views. Plus, walking arond the zoo is great exercise for little and big legs alike.
Third, the zoo was really great for getting up-close views of all kinds of animals. I think of myself as a zoo snob since we had the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park so close to us for so long -- it can't be any better than those, right? Well, I was pretty impressed. They had an excellent giraffe area where you could buy 3 crackers for $1 and feed them to the giraffes yourself. I'm pretty sure that you can do something like this in San Diego, but I've never done it before and I'm also pretty sure it would cost more like $10. The giraffes were very interactive and hungry for crackers, so they came very close to people and even let some people pet their muzzles (and the zookeepers didn't stop them!). The giraffes came so close, that Jack, Thomas, and Peter seemed a little concerned for their lives :). I ended up buying some crackers, but Peter was the only one who was brave enough to feed a giraffe. I really got a kick out of feeding them, though!
First, I love that we got to go to Cheyenne Mountain. I'm enough of a geek to think "Cheyenne Mountain = Stargate", so I got a kick out of driving toward the mountain and feeling like it looking familiar from the TV show.
Second, the zoo is actually kind of built into the side of the mountain. It's beautiful -- surrounded by lots of spruce and pine and great views. Plus, walking arond the zoo is great exercise for little and big legs alike.
Third, the zoo was really great for getting up-close views of all kinds of animals. I think of myself as a zoo snob since we had the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park so close to us for so long -- it can't be any better than those, right? Well, I was pretty impressed. They had an excellent giraffe area where you could buy 3 crackers for $1 and feed them to the giraffes yourself. I'm pretty sure that you can do something like this in San Diego, but I've never done it before and I'm also pretty sure it would cost more like $10. The giraffes were very interactive and hungry for crackers, so they came very close to people and even let some people pet their muzzles (and the zookeepers didn't stop them!). The giraffes came so close, that Jack, Thomas, and Peter seemed a little concerned for their lives :). I ended up buying some crackers, but Peter was the only one who was brave enough to feed a giraffe. I really got a kick out of feeding them, though!
They also had a neat Rocky Mountain area with some of the animals native to this area -- including a moose, wild turkeys, and mountain lions. The had a viewing window that let you walk under a ledge where the mountain lions hung out, and there were 3 or 4 of them just on the other side of the plexiglass from us, and I could swear they were looking at the boys as if they were appetizers :). It was a little unnerving, but very neat.
Some of the other animals' enclosures were smaller or less fancy than the ones in San Diego, and some of the animals looked a little bored or restless, but it was overall a really great experience. I definitely plan to go back again!
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