The Philadelphia Zoo

For our first full day in Philadelphia we went to their zoo. It was planned out very well, because once you get into it, and are under the large leafy trees that line most of the walkways, you forget it's in an urban setting. It seems so peaceful that you forget the crowed street you walked along to get there.

What made this visit really special was that Aunt Jody was able to come with us, and also that none of us had been there before. It was a new adventure for everyone!

Several of their exhibits are designed so that you can get up close and personal with the animals. It was a thrill to have a tiger walk right by us. The Detroit Zoo, where we are frequent visitors does not have many exhibits like this, except for the Arctic Ring and that one is so big and spread out that. The animals still don't really come up to right by the glass. We also got to see a bear and monkeys this way. Brad said the tiger only came so close because he was thinking, hmm...lunch.

What both zoos do have in common are the ever present animal statues, which had to be climbed all over. What else could they possibly be for?

I have to say I wasn't expecting Philadelphia to be so humid at the beginning of June. It was quite balmy, growing up in Michigan we have days with high humidity but it's usually much later into summer. Being that it was so sticky already, I can see why escaping to the Jersey shore is so popular in that area.

My previous experience with big city living was in northern CA and if you don't know this, I'm telling you now. San Francisco can be very, very, very cold in the summer. If you visit and don't want to stick out like a sore thumb as a tourist bring pants and a jacket. You will need it, even in August and especially if you are on The Bay like in Fisherman's Wharf.

ER discovered a new fascination while at the zoo, a love for cheesy photo cut outs, pun intended☺ We've run into these before, and she's taken her picture with her little head in them. However, this visit she was the one running excitedly to each one we saw. They were all over the zoo and each time we saw one she couldn't resist stopping. We had to drag her away from them. I don't know how much fun just standing there with your head through a hole can be but evidently is it!

For us, the highlight of this visit was that Brad finally got to see a cheetah at the zoo. I can't tell you how many times we've tried to get a glimpse of this elusive fella, not even in San Diego did we see one. We saw lots of great animals and I took a lot of pictures like usual, but since I just shared out Zoo Alphabet I thought maybe just this once I wouldn't bore you all with a ton of animal shots. Overall, after the San Diego zoo this one was my second favorite out of the five we've been to. It's definitely worth a visit if you're ever in the area and a great stop with kids.