The West Family: Toledo Zoo

As you have probably learned by now we are a zoo-lovin family! We try to hit new zoo's whenever possible and last week we made the trip up to Toledo to see the zoo that we heard was "next best to ours (Fort Wayne)"! Well it WAS a wonderful zoo, it is very different from ours here at home and did not take over #1 in our list of favorites, but it sure does have a lot to offer that many zoo's do not!

Toledo Zoo has a LOT, and I mean a LOT of very large animals! I have never been to a zoo that was able to provide home to such a range of big wildlife! The habitats were amazing and I would have to say that if I were a zoo animal this is where I would want to call home! They do not skimp in the slightest when it comes to providing beautiful homes to these animals. But because the habitats are so large it is difficult to see the animals! Do not let these photos fool you, I was on full zoom to get pictures and it is no lie to say we were able to get a better look at the animals through the pictures then actually looking at them from the little viewing areas provided. This was a very busy zoo and people were piled up trying to get a look at the animals. With such an expansive habitat you would think they would be able to provide more viewing areas, but they didn't. We all had to wait to try to find a spot were we could get a glipse of the animals. Plus with so much space between each animal it was quite a long haul to get from one place to another. This is considered a "family zoo" but keeping Brennen's attention as we trucked, what seemed like 10 miles, throught the zoo was difficult. We had to resort to bribery more then once to keep him tuned in. But on that note the price of ice cream there was VERY reasonable LOL. We are very glad that we went and absolutely will go again. But now that we know we will be able to better plan our day and we will definitely head up there at an off-peak time!!

The Rhino