One of my very good friends was in town for about a week and on his last day here, we wanted to do something low key because he had an early morning flight. Obviously, The Maryland Zoo in Baltimore is what came to mind. I LOVE zoos. I cannot emphasize that enough. Every single time I go to the zoo, I come away having discovered some new crazy animal I had never heard of, like for example, the Hellbender. As disgusting as this salamander (or "snot otter" as some call them) is, I never knew he was out there! If you can't tell, whenever I'm at the zoo my inner nerd does cartwheels and somersaults. The only part about the zoo that freaks me out would have to be the caves and the Baltimore zoo had plenty of them. The caves are usually dedicated to the snakes and spiders and other horrifying creepy crawlies. I push through so I can look brave but inside I'm running away screaming. Since it was a Tuesday, Z. and I had NO problem getting in and wandering around because it was completely empty. They offer a courtesy shuttle to the main zoo area if you don't want to use the walking path and when we reached the shuttle stop, we were the only ones in line and the only ones on the bus, which was kind of nice because normally zoos are filled with crying children and that one annoying little boy that wants to stick his gum in your hair (yeah, that happened to me once). It was a pretty standard zoo... they had all the big animals including: lions, chimpanzees, cheetahs, giraffes, rhinos, etc. They were all absolutely fascinating, but the one I loved the most was the POLAR BEAR! They house two polar bears but we only got to gander at the female and she was so funny. She actually woke up while we were there and started rolling around to appease an itch and then stretched out and yawned a bit before finding another spot to plop down and go back to sleep. I instantly fell in love. I'm gushing over all the animals we got to see but there were a few that were missing. They didn't have pandas (which isn't that uncommon because only a few zoos in the nation have a panda bear), koalas, gorillas, and a couple of others that I can't think of right off the top of my head. I know they have most of those at the D.C. zoo, so I can always just go there if I'm in the mood to ogle a koala. One of the biggest downsides to this zoo is the construction they have going on. There were several areas that were closed off due to construction. There was one very large work zone right by the cafeteria and carousel that is apparently going to be the new home for the penguins in 2015. Honestly, those penguins are going to have a baller house because it looked MASSIVE. There were also a few other small construction areas but the penguin habitat definitely is an eyesore at this point. Of course, it can't be helped. The cafeteria food was pretty standard and certainly nothing spectacular. I mean, it's just frozen food they stick in a fryer, right? We did the whole zoo in about 2.5-3 hours but that was because we knew it closed at 4 and wanted to see everything so we weren't really taking a lot of breaks. If I go again, I'd probably make a whole day out of it and go on the weekend because it seemed like most of the talks and animal feedings happen on Saturdays. We did happen upon a "Big Tree Slide" at the end of a cave and really, really wanted to slide down it regardless of the "No Adults Allowed" signs but there were a couple of kids going down it and I didn't want their parents to judge me. It was a lot of fun and I would definitely go again, but I have been spoiled by the zoo in Columbia, SC and just kept comparing them in my head.
Perks of going on a random weekday: No lines and no crowds
Cons of going on a random weekday: The adult cafes that serve "Marga-cheetahs" are closed, there are no live feedings, and no talks/seminars on some of the animals
And yes, Marga-cheetahs are a real drink they serve.
All in all, I would give the zoo itself 3 out of 5 stars, but I would give the day 5 out of 5 stars! The zoo rating may change if I go back on the weekend or if I go back when they open the penguin exhibit in 2015!
I snapped a few shots while we were there so here's a few of my faves....
Leopard!
Polar bear! ... So adorbs...
Warthog, aka, a real life Pumba! Where's Timone?
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