grumpy morning at woodland park zoo

with no plans for the day, i greeted my smiling boy in his crib with a question: what do you want to do today? his first response was "go to gramma grampa's house!" then "ride the carousel at the zoo!" we picked the second. being a cloudy weekday, i thought we'd have run of the place - not so much.

it was chilly, and i wanted coffee. i had bypassed starbucks, really the only option on mercer island, in favor of trying out my favorite bean, cafe vita, at the zoo. bad choice! big lines and a burned, over chocolate-ed mocha. lots of camps were getting their zoo field trips in today, and kids were running or crying everywhere. our boy was a champ through the chaos, gripping his first big lollipop with determination and patience, knowing he had to wait until after lunch to taste it.

we got turned around feeling torn between the gorillas and the carousel, then just went with it seeing whatever animals happened along our zigging and zagging. the jaguar laid right by the glass in all it's magnificence. the orangutan gazed at us with soulful eyes. three elephants were out, including the one i suspect has tragically gone mad, always "dancing" alone in the corner. (please tell me if i'm wrong!)

we shared an "impressive for zoo food" lunch of salmon salad with strawberries and feta ($9) and a grilled salmon sandwich ($9) at the new pacific blue. there are lots of tables, but watch the booster seats/patio chair combo on the gravel, mr. two-year-old who kept pushing his feet against the table fell over backwards. keep vigilant waiting for your food, one woman had her lunch swiped from the pick-up counter before she could get to it. if you're the nefarious type, you could use this to your advantage and score a free meal ;)

despite the grumbly start, the morning ended in a happy place. the sun came out. we ran into a good friend and her sweet kids, whom our boy loves. the big lollipop was a hit, although my boy kept asking "how does it work?" maybe he wanted it to not be so hard to bite? and the biggest bonus for me, he stayed awake the whole drive home then took a big nap before gramma and grampa arrived to babysit!

if you frequent the zoo with young kids, you must get a membership. the cost of admission isn't piddly, and with the $$ ringing in your head, you will be disappointed to find there is no way to see all of the spectacularly large zoo in one trip. if you get in for "free" you don't feel so bad if your kid (or you) just wants to see the giraffes and go.

woodland park zoo
Woodland Park Zoo, located just minutes north of downtown Seattle, Washington, in the Phinney Ridge neighborhood, is a beautiful 92-acre zoo featuring more than 300 different animal species.

: note :
my pics today were disappointing, so these are from previous visits.


...where is your favorite zoo? we are heading to point defiance zoo next week, i'll let you know how it compares.