the checkeyes: the maryland zoo

We spent the second day of our trip at the Maryland Zoo. From the parking lot, it didn't look like it was going to be a very exciting zoo. It turns out, though, that it was really nice. They had a very cool children's zoo with all kinds of things for kids to do and lots of really neat exhibits. The children's zoo was entirely local Maryland animals.

Piper taking a turtle ride. (And yes, for those of you wondering, this is indeed a bog turtle.)

Birds! Here is Gage in an oriole nest.

And everyone pretending to be baby herons.

This was a really cool part of the children's zoo. It was in a large enclosed area full of birds. It was a kind of bridge made of 4 or 5 giant lily pads. The kids spent a very long time going back and forth on them.

Crosby slept in the wrap while everyone else got to play on lily pads. (He seems to miss most everything we do while sleeping in the wrap.)

Otter watching. After the otters, you go through a tunnel under their water into a dark room lit by black light. There is a big tank inside with hellbenders in it.

Taking a break.

The zoo has a big (fake) cave with all kinds of cave dwelling creatures in it. It was really cool. The kids were rather scared though. It was dark and they had some giant bat statues. There was also a mammoth skeleton to climb through, but no one was brave enough to get far enough away from Adam and I to try it.

This tree had all kinds of snakes and things inside of it and a spiral staircase leading up to a big and very fast slide. The three older kids all went down at least ten times each.