At the zoo

I'm sure you've all heard the Simon and Garfunkel song "At The Zoo." Love that song ... "The monkeys stand for honesty. Giraffes are insincere. The elephants are kindly but they're dumb. ..." Or something like that. A fantastic album. The first side is a masterpeice of theme album work. The second side is a random collection of good songs.

But that's not what I want to blog about (though "Punky's Dilemma" is a cute song. I always wish I was a Kellogg's corn flake floatin' in my bowl, making movies. ...)

I was thinking of the song because we all went to the John Ball Park Zoo in Grand Rapids Sunday. It had been about 8 years since I had been there and, yes, we took the picture of the kids on the statue of the zoo's namesake.

The main draw to this zoo is the display of chimps and monkeys. My oldest daughter is into monkeys (and I don't know why), so she was just beside herself with joy while gazing at Monkey Island.

My youngest daughter was happy to see the tiger and leopard, and she kept insisting we see every animal in the zoo. I think we did.

The zoo is pretty small, but it is nicely laid out. We got to walk up the million stairs above the waterfalls by the avian exhibit for some cool views. The petting zoo was a smash and the Great Lakes exhibit gave us pause.

Of course, the zoo has cafes all over and a gift shop the kids whined to go to. We said no for lack of cash and we brought water and snacks.

Thought: And hamsters turn on frequently ... what a gas!