So I thought I'd start a little series within our little blog here, Exploring L.A. As we venture out beyond our little apartment complex and explore what Los Angeles has to offer, I thought I'd summarize it here. We are trying to get out as much as possible, but so far our work schedules haven't quite allowed for a lot. Also trying to time things with Ellie's nap schedule and find thigns that she would be interested in add an additional challenge. We did head to
Griffith Park, and we've done quite a bit of exploring within Pasadena. Without further ado...
On Saturday we headed to the Los Angeles Zoo. Now, the zoo is located within Griffith Park ground, but since it is its own thing, we did it separately from our previous hike. Living in LA I thought things would be much further away from our home base out here. Well, actually getting to the LA Zoo is easier and quicker than either zoo in Boston. Ellie really likes the zoo and she was not dissapointed by the animals at the LA Zoo!
As this zoo is located literally in the side of a mountain, there is quite a bit of walking up and down hills and stairs. It makes for a fun adventure, but also a tired little girl. However, Ellie was a trooper and was always excited about what animal was around the forner.
There were the usual favorites, elephant, giraffe, zebras, alligators, snakes, chimps...Ellie was impressed with the koala and thought the wild pigs were hilarious. And we all thought the gorilla exhibit was awesome. There was also a nursery where we saw some baby seals. Ellie thought it was hilarious that they had baby animals in cribs like people babies. Ellie was very happy that the flamingos didn't smell like at the Boston Zoo. I guess when you have a completely exterior exhibit the odors dissipate enough.
However, the orangutan exhibit was everyone's favorite. Why? Because there was a very active baby orangutan. And we all know how much Ellie likes baby anything. We stayed watching the baby orangutan for a long time, it was really fun to watch.
As soon as we walked through the front gates and it was visible, Ellie locked onto the carousel. She loves "round and round horsies". Since Ellie was very well behaved and walked most of the zoo by herself, we agreed to one ride on the carousel. Now this wasn't just "round and round horsies". Ellie quickly noticed that it was "round and round animals". Ellen selected a gorilla to ride. She thinks next time she wants to ride the giraffe.
The stores...there was quite a bit of shopping and Ellie wanted to look at everything. There were some really cool toys, but seriously that much...its hard for parents to walk out of there with money left in their pocket. Ellie actually was really cool about the fact that we didn't get her a toy. I think the promise of getting to come back was enough.
We enjoyed the zoo and are now have a family membership. Since it is so easy to get to, and there is so much there, we know we will go back quite a bit. I know there were animals that we didn't see and apparently they do a cool elephant training thing which we missed. There are also some other animal encounters and shows that we didn't go to. Ellie was one happy little girl at the zoo so I know she'll be asking to go back!
