Two days ago my family escaped leaving town to take a much anticipated and long awaited road trip to the Fort Wayne Children‘s Zoo. Maybe other families take road trips all the time and it is standard fare for a summer weekend. For me and my family, taking a road trip together is a rare occurrence. My husband spends all but 4 days a month on the road and honestly the last thing on his agenda when he finally finds his way to the house is to hit the road again for a family adventure. This road trip has been thought about, planned, and looked forward to since the snow flew this winter. Actually I have yearned to return to this zoo since before my son was born over 7 years ago. That is how long it has been since I have gone anywhere that even remotely resembled a vacation get away.
We woke early, counted our money once again, checked the internet once more, and reassured ourselves that yes, we not only have earned this escape but we also had the money to cover it. The drive was punctuated with the repeated phrase of “are we there yet?” from the back seat as only two anxious kids can do. I worried as I watched the temperature climb into the 90’s as we continued on our journey. I was honestly scared $hitless that I would end up toe up in a neighboring ER barfing in a wastebasket suffering heat stroke like I did last summer. Still that made little difference when planning this little excursion. The only factor that matters when planning a road trip like this is that my husband is with us. The weather doesn’t always cooperate so you have to do what you have to do to soldier on grabbing life with both hands and experiencing it head on.
Armed with a map of the zoo and my trusty camera we embarked on a journey that took us to the savannahs of Africa, the humid beauty of the rain forests, and finally to the dusty red dirt paths of Australia. It wasn’t long before the map was stuffed deep in my purse and we chose to wander and explore wherever the path took us at our leisure snapping pictures and peering intently into the habitats to see the animals hidden in the shadows trying to keep cool in the sweltering heat.
Wandering through the Fort Wayne Zoo allows you to discover exotic plants and animals around every turn. I was blown away by the African journey where the grounds are carefully landscaped to give you the illusion you are in the heart of an African savannah where seeing zebra and wildebeest roaming freely is commonplace. My favorite highlights of be the sky safari that soared us high into the sky giving us an amazing view of the savannah below and the up close and personal visit with the giraffes from an amazing 14 foot platform.
For a price you can pay to feed the giraffes. The giraffes have it planned too. We didn’t spend the extra dollars to wave a small piece of lettuce at the majestic creatures but two teenagers did and we were awed to watch a giraffe gallop right over and take the lettuce right from their hands. The giraffe was so close I could reach out and pet its neck. With the exuberance of a kid, I did just that.
We checked out a real Land Rover, climbed inside some explorer tents, examined multiple bugs and butterflies under a telescope, and banged on African drums. We road the train, took a lazy river ride, watched the kids beam their approval from a merry go round populated with endangered species, and were inspired by the beautiful fish that swam in the tanks in the Great Barrier Reef aquarium.
It was stifling hot but the zoo had various spots throughout where you could cool off with a mist of refreshing water. We took full advantage of these standing in front of them and getting thoroughly drenched before proceeding on. Even though by the end of the afternoon a migraine had settled in and nausea began to take over, I survived and had a blast at the zoo.
We spent a glorious day exploring and enjoying the animals who except for the giraffes who expected food, looked like they were hot as hell and didn’t give a rat’s a$$ if anyone was looking at them or not. It didn’t matter if the animals looked bored as hell; we were thrilled to be there regardless of the heat and enjoyed every single minute until next time when I give you a glimpse into the life of a trucker’s wife.
