San Francisco Zoo

I have quite the backlog of things to blog about here after my Mum's visit. We basically spent a week being tourists with her! It was nice to have a bit of a holiday, but as with these things, the past week of going back to normal life has been a bit difficult! It hasn't helped that Robert's in Sydney for the next week for work. I wanted to go back with him to see family, but he isn't there for long enough to justify us coming along. :-( 

SF Zoo steamtrain. With a peacock and a squirrel just casually looking on.

Anyway, one of the things we did with Mum was visit San Francisco Zoo. I'd heard a few things about it, one thing being that it was good for toddlers. Of course, our toddler being our toddler, wasn't really into the animals at all. His favourite things were some little toy tractors that toddlers can ride around on and the little steam train that he rode on with Mum and Robert. The animals were all pretty secondary to him. We went to Taronga Zoo at the beginning of this year with my sister in law and her three kids, and our toddler missed a lot of what we saw because things were just too big and/or too far away. But we went to Featherdale Wildlife Park with him a couple of months later which was a bit better for him as kids can get up close to animals. SF Zoo has a petting zoo, which was one of the main things that drew me there, thinking he'd enjoy that the way he did, Featherdale. But of course, that was where the little tractors were, so he missed the chance to pet the goats and sheep etc. I perhaps should have prefaced this by saying he is certainly a one-track minded child with an obsession for wheels. Cars and, more recently, trains are his favourite things, and when they're around, nothing else seems to matter! It's a love at first sight situation when things with him and wheels are involved!

Regardless, the three of us had a nice day, otherwise. It was cold and foggy, but it didn't really matter (aside from the fact that before we even saw anything, I had to pop into the souvenir shop to buy a jacket as I hadn't worn warm enough clothes!). We managed to see most of what was there to see. It's not an overly huge zoo, and it's all quite flat, so the walk isn't difficult. The toddler slept for a bit while we just spent the day wandering around. And I do have to admit that the little steam train is a lovely addition to the place. 

I think the major downside to going on a cool day was just that a lot of the animals were keeping warm in enclosed areas of their pens, or they were just sleeping. I would have loved to have seen the leopard or the lion doing stuff, but apparently sleep is just what you do when it's cold. And, really, who can argue with that? Haha. Also, it's nice to see our fellow life forms, but a part of me also doesn't really like the idea of zoos and seeing such amazing animals locked up for our amusement... bit of a conflict of emotions, really.

That said, it was a lovely day and definitely worth a visit. I'd consider signing up for membership if my child actually noticed anything other than the train. LOL.

xoxo