After round one of waterpark for the day (they went again in the evening), we headed over to what used to be? is? is phasing out of being? the Storybook Gardens. Apparently in its prime (30+ years ago?) it was interesting displays of famous kids book/nursery rhymes/poems in the setting of a large garden.
it also has a neat old one room schoolhouse with lovely little desks and tablets and such to explore. lily loved playing teacher.
Well, most of those displays are so neglected that the characters are missing limbs and the story plaques are missing from them, sort of sad...and yet, such an awesome time! The storybook gardens is becoming a Wildlife experience, so we got to see tons of animals!
Kangaroo! (this is lilys current favorite animal, though you cant tell from her face)
tiger babies (i was shocked at how HUGE their out-of-proportion baby feet are!)
tortoises
baaaaaaaby zebra. lily walked up so quietly and gently, and just stood there and let the zebra (which had been bucking and being silly) come up to her and check her out.. we didnt tell her to do so, they just had a bond.
lily was Soooooo excited, but she just held still and enjoyed being near him
luv. the zebra nuzzled her head. so cute. i am totally jealous.
and then..... we fed giraffes. i have seen so many at zoos, but i've never seen on up close. This was amazing! They had a neat platform built so we could get up to them to feed them, and they are amazing, the adults head was several feet long, i couldn't believe it!
here is lily feeding a baby while dave is feeding the adult
word of wisdom: if you plan to feed a giraffe, have some wipes ready for clean up after. eeeewwww, giraffe spit.
extra tidbit: right after this picture, giraffe licked charlie's head, trying to get the cup of food. sorry charlie, i didnt protect you adequately.
this bright blue and yellow bridge was our favorite remnant of the storybook gardens part of this place. it was fun and bright and had a nice little stream under it.
Tiffy is a downer: I tried to just enjoy myself and let us just enjoy this really unique exposure to these animals that are usually much more enclosed and sheltered in a zoo, but the nagging PETA side of me was having a tough time pretending that this was a totally legit experience. Where do all these animals come from? Surely no ethical agency would have evaluated this sort of rundown old attraction and thought it a great place to send all these animals, some of which must be protected species. Who are the caretakers here, if the owners are still the owners of th Storybook gardens, they wouldnt necessarily be trained in caring for something exotic like a tiger or a giraffe? Where do they go in winter? The cages are small and very exposed for warm weather animals. So many baby animals...were they taken from their mamas like that one terrible documentary I watched about lion cub thieves at the edge of some wildlife reserve in africa? Shouldn't there have been some staff around to ask questions like mine about the animals, or at least be sure we were behaving ourselves while feeding the giraffes and zebras? I know, they were all in lovely clean spaces, and they looked well fed and cared for, I'm crazy, but it felt.... wrong. Still, my girl had some up close experiences she won't soon forget, and honestly, feeding a giraffe was the coolest.
