Philadelphia Zoo 2016...

On this year;'s trip to the Philadelphia zoo, we opted to come a little earlier in the year than usual in an effort to avoid the summer heat. This year, we would ne bringing an extra-large crowd with us. Together, our family, my step-sister-in-law's family and some friends, arrived at the South entrance of the zoo in three cars. As usual, we brought sandwiches and bottled water with us. We planned to buy drinks and snacks at the zoo.

Keenan and Amanda arrived first along with some of my step-sister-in-law's children. They had complimentary children's tickets, so, they only had to pay for themselves.

We took the main trail from the South entrance. The small monkeys at the bottom of the hill were still in the midst of their morning nap. It was cloudy and a bit cool, so, no one wanted to get out of bed, A bit further along, we stopped near the tree house. Mom decided to splurge on tickets of the merry-go-round and and the kiddie train that runs through the little park on the south side of the zoo.

After the kids had a spin on the merry-go-round, we headed over to see the big kitties. The mountain lions were well hidden and only a tail and a couple feet were visible from our vantage point. The lions were out and about as were the tigers. Afterwards, we headed over to the primate exhibit. The orangutans were not on exhibit today as one of them had tried to use a rock to break through the safety glass. Fortunately, there were three layers of glass and the outer two panes remained intact.

From the primate exhibit we ventured over to see the bears. We arrived in time to catch part of a lecture by zoo staff about the black bears on exhibit. We caught a glimpse of one of the polar bears and an area next to the black bear exhibit. From there, we headed over to the rare mammal house. Mom decided not to go in as there were rodents on display.

By the time we finished, it was a good time to find a place to sit down for lunch. We continued on to a cafe area near the large fountain at the north side of the zoo. We picked out a nice shady spot near the fountain and passed out sandwiches. Amanda and Christina got drinks and snacks from the cafe and we had a nice lunch.

After lunch, we went to the souvenir shop and picked up a few things. This year, I picked up a glass polar bear.

After we picked up souvenirs, we headed back toward the south side of the zoo. We saw the rhinos, zebras and giraffes and cut across the zoo to see the reptile exhibit and the children's zoo. Then, we headed towards the park area near the south side of the zoo for ice cream and to make sure the kids got their train ride. It was cute. The train area was decorated to look like a Septa station.

After the train ride, we headed home. It was cloudy in the morning, but, by the afternoon, the sun was out and it turned out to be a nice day. We had a good time. Although I took my camera, I decided to not take very many pictures. I captured the ass-ends of the black bear and the rhino, a flamingo, a zebra and, of course, the train.