A visit to the Beardsley Zoo

This summer I took Gus and his friend Zach to the Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport, CT.  I'd never been before and the three of us enjoyed the visit - even though it was incredibly hot that day.  The zoo rents double (and single) strollers so we packed our water and snacks and strolled around.  I like that you can see the whole zoo in an hour or two.  With two year olds, that seems to be a great size/time frame for a visit.

When Gus asked to go to the zoo again this fall, I decided to join as members - both to support the zoo and so that we could go back as many times as we wanted.  The zoo focuses on North and South American animals, so its great to get to know some of our "locals", so to speak.  Our favorites, so far have been the wolves and the waterfowl in the barnyard area.

We went to the zoo again today and found some spots that we hadn't noticed last time we were there.  The first place we checked out was the sculpture garden.  I don't recall the name of the sculptor, but do remember that the inspiration for the pieces was nature.  It was a fitting and beautiful exhibit and the garden was fun, both for me (especially with a new camera to play with!) and for a two year old to explore.

 

Next stop, the maze:

Then we watched a couple of the resident peacocks boss everyone around:

visited our favorite goose (this critters chats you up big time whenever you stop to pay your respects):

and spent some time getting to know an elephant:

Last stop of the day was a visit to the lions (one is asleep and the other awake - they guard the entrance to the greenhouse):

...note the camel medallion - I'm not sure how much premeditation there was with that, but it sure was fitting for the day.