Hogle Zoo

Before starting chemo and life getting too crazy, we decided to take a few fun trips with the kids and enjoy the summer.  Last week we took the kids to Hill Air Force Base Museum.  They loved it.  This week we took a trip to Salt Lake and went to Hogle Zoo.  This was such a fun trip and the kids loved seeing all of the animals.

It was a hot day so a lot of the animals were hiding in the shade or sleeping but the animals we were able to see were awesome.  

Right when we walked into the zoo, we spotted the giraffes first thing.  The giraffes were so big!  We were up on a tall outlook building and their heads came right up to us.  It was fun to see them.

Next we came to the lions.  While we were looking at the giraffes we saw the lions come running out of their building.  We walked over to the lion enclosure just as they were getting fed so we watched them lay in the shade and eat the bones they were fed. Colby said his favorite animal a the zoo was the lions.

As we left the lions, we walked by the monkey cages.

The monkeys were out sitting in the trees.  They were fun to look at.  Then Logan noticed one that was pooping and pointed it out to every one.  Now every time he talks about going to Hogle Zoo he says "Remember that monkey we saw that was pooping!"  He is a funny boy.

Logan kept saying he wanted to see the elephants.  Finally we found the elephant enclosure.

The zoo worker had a piece of elephant skin and let us feel what an elephant feels like.  It was really rough and thick skin.  While we were at the elephants, we were able to watch the Pachyderm Program where the trainers showed us how they train the elephants and take care of them.  The show was really cool.

It was really fun to see the elephants so close to us.  They are so big too!  During the show, we watched the elephants pick things up with their trunks, kick soccer balls, spray the audience with water, and one elephant even painted a picture with his trunk.  The trainers also showed us how they check the elephants' teeth and feet and body to make sure they are healthy.  It was a good show.

Here are the kids next to an elephant skull and femur bone.  It just gives you an idea about how big these animals are!  While waiting for the elephant show to start, we joined an African drum circle and had a good time playing the different instruments.  

Here we are next to the awesome elephant statue that sprays water out of its trunk.  It was a cool sculpture.

Next to the Elephants were the Rhinos.

These guys were just as big as the elephants!  It was fun to watch them from outside but Emily got an up close look when she went inside.  Emily went in the underground lookout place and the rhino was right there by the window!  She thought that was pretty awesome.

One of my favorite animals was the Gorilla area.

We got to see the gorilla right next to the window!  He was just taking a nap and then realized that people were looking at him so he got up and stretched and started walking around.  It was cool how the gorilla just looked at us like we were crazy.  The kids got to measure themselves against the different sizes of gorillas.  Charlotte is that size of an infant gorilla, Logan is the size of a child gorilla, and Emily is the size of an adult female gorilla.  Well she might be as tall as a gorilla but her hands are a lot smaller.

After seeing the gorillas, we decided to go see the bird show.  This was probably one of the best things we saw at the zoo.

While at the bird show, we saw a bunch of different kinds of birds.  As the birds flew in, they flew right over our heads!  In fact we had to duck down or we would have been hit.  We saw parrots, owls, ravens, falcons, hawks, and eagles.  One green parrot could even talk!  It answered different questions that the trainer ask it.  It was amazing.  The eagles were awesome too.  The golden eagle swooped right down over our heads and then up into a tree.  Then it would not come back down no matter what the trainer tried to do.  Finally though it swooped back down over our heads and you could feel the wind from its beating wings.  Awesome!  Then when they brought out the bald eagle we were all in awe of the beauty and majesty of that great bird.  This show was very fun and entertaining.

Eagles are huge too.  This is a replica of an eagle's nest and all my kids fit right in it.  Logan is not even close to as big as an eagle's wing span.  

We saw so many animals at the zoo.  The kids loved pointing out all of the different animals and saying ooh and aah!

Another of my favorite animals was the giant tortoise.  This guy was huge!! I could have probably ridden on its back!

Colby loved seeing the crocodiles too.  We were pretty close to them so I was glad there was a glass fence between us.  Next we went into the reptile and small animal house and saw all sorts of animals including, snakes, lizards, frogs, foxes, monkeys, owls, turtles, spiders, and a bunch of other things.  We just walked slowly through so we could see everything.

Hogle Zoo had a fun thing going on called "Bugzilla!"  Everywhere you went there were giant bug figures all over the park.  We loved pointing out all of the giant bugs but we were pretty scared of the giant tarantula.

Some of the other giant bugs attacking the zoo were dragonflies, ladybugs, grasshoppers, butterflies, scorpions, bumble bees, lightening bugs, ants, and beetles.  The kids especially loved playing with the ladybugs.

On we went seeing all of the animals.  Did I mention that there are so many things to see at the zoo?

We liked watching the orangutans in their enclosure and measuring ourselves against their sizes.  Another favorite animal of Colby's was the bears.  He kept asking when we would see the bears and we finally made it at the end.  The bears were so hot that they just hung out in the pond.  One bear would not even get out of the water.  Colby was kind of disappointed as we all were because the polar bears were gone.  Back in September the polar bear died and the zoo has not replaced it yet so we were not able to see the polar bears.  Next we saw the otters and then moved on to the sea lions and seals.  The sea lions and seals were fun to watch as they swam around and dove into the water.  Later we came back and watched the sea lion show.  This was awesome too.  We watched the trainers get the sea lions to do tricks like hand stands, waving, and diving.  It was pretty fun.  As you can tell from Logan's face he was pretty excited every time a sea lion swam by.

Of course we had to get pictures of us drinking out of the famous lion head drinking fountains.  The kids thought it was fun to get eaten by a lion.

Toward the end of the day, we met with some of the zoo workers to pet some animals.  We got to pet a turtle, a snake and see a tarantula.  I liked petting the turtle but was not a fan of the snake.  Petting the animals was one of the best parts of the zoo.

After spending the whole day running around the zoo seeing all of the animals, the kids just wanted to take it easy and play.  The Hogle Zoo has a fun playground and splash pad in the middle of the zoo.  The kids had a blast just running and playing.  They especially loved cooling off in the splash pad.  Charlotte loved the water and did not want to leave.  She loved splashing and getting wet.  

We had a great time at the zoo.  The kids loved seeing the animals and were in awe with everything around them.  Emily's favorite part about the zoo was the splash pad and the seals.  Colby's favorite part was the hearing the lions roar and the sea lions.  Logan also loved the sea lions and the otters.  I think Charlotte loved the splash pad the best of all.   This was a great vacation.