Pittsburgh Zoo

I have always loved going to the zoo.  Not entirely sure why, but I do love walking around and seeing all the different animals.  When I was little, my mom would take me to the Stone Zoo quite often, which really was a pathetic little zoo but it was only a couple of towns over.  Now that the kids are getting older, I can indulge my love of the zoo enrich my children's lives by exposing them to animals from all around the world.  Up until this summer, Madeleine had been to the zoo in Denver, Minneapolis and St. Louis.  Not bad for a 5 year old.  Since we've only ever been to Pittsburgh in the winter, it is the first opportunity I've had to take them here.

We went the day before the 4th of July, right before the heat wave descended on most of the United States.  It was pretty warm when we went, but Nana bought them hats and fans at the first gift shop and they were happy campers.

We saw the typical lions and tigers ... the bears were being lazy and hiding indoors.  My favorite was the elephants.  I got some really nice shots:

We also got to hang out with a new friend named Victoria.

This guy had the right idea as it did get a little toasty:

"Big teef mommy!  Bite you!!"



All in all we had a good day.  We were able to cover the whole zoo in about 3 hours before it got really crowded and the heat kicked in.  It was a good start to a great vacation.  Next stop: Sesame Place.