Zoo With Cousin Sarah

All summer, my cousin Sarah and I have been planning a zoo trip, to celebrate her 14th birthday. The scheme was heavily doubted by higher-ups, but happily (and a bit surprisingly), it worked out.

Sarah and Aunt Terrie arrived in Fort Wayne on Thursday, and after lunch (which seemed to take forever), we headed to the zoo.

As if our wait hadn't been long enough, my mom had to renew our zoo membership before we could enter. Finally, after several long, agonizing minutes, we walked through the entrance.

Sadly, and to my great disappointment, the awesome frog fountains at the zoo have been replaced by a giant, ugly, blow-up lion, which just sits there and isn't any fun at all. I mean, it's been a while since I actually played in the frog fountains, but I have many fun memories there.

Anyway, our first real excitement came from the monkeys. Two of them were playing together; chasing each other, rolling around, and hiding - much to the delight of the onlookers.

We next meandered over to the African Journey, my new favorite section of the zoo. We came unnervingly close to some storks, which made loud, throaty noises if someone reached their hand over the enclosure fence. Also, the hyenas were prowling near the glass, not to mention the lion, which was literally laying against the glass, in all it's splendor, glory, and hugeness.

We were able to feed the giraffes, which is always a neat thing to do. I love the way their long, black tongues curl around the piece of lettuce. It's awesome - in a weird, gross sort of way.

After this, Sarah and I loitered behind the group - careful not to attract attention - slowly making our way to the Sky Safari ride. We had planned this sneaky maneuver with my mom. She had handed us a few dollars, and said that, if we could manage it, we could ride the Sky Safari, which is basically a ski lift that carries you above the African Journey.

I had never been on the Sky Safari before, and it was really cool. Sarah and I really enjoyed it, and after viewing the African Journey from on high, we headed to the Indonesian Rainforest, to meet up with the group.

After this, we watched the sea lion feeding, which I haven't seen in quite a while. It's really fun to watch.

After a quick stop at the aquarium, we headed to the farm, where we brushed and fed the goats. (Sarah, at one point, was literally cornered by goats, who jumped on her, begging for food. In the end, she dumped the food in their midst. Only then could she escape. It was really quite funny.)

Aunt Terrie bought a few souvenirs at the gift shop, and we all hopped in the van. So ended our zoo adventure.

Sarah and Aunt Terrie visited for a few more hours. We swam down at Matt's, we enjoyed homemade snow cones, and we watched Fantastic Mr. Fox.

Finally, after an extremely fun, memorable day, Cousin Sarah and Aunt Terrie headed back to Valpo.