Evan Took His First Trip to the Zoo Today

I haven't written about the family since our Disney trip earlier this year, and a lot has happened since then.  My son, Evan, is now seven months old, eats solid foods, sits up on his own, crawls, and has become so much more aware of his surroundings, especially us.  Had we gone to Disneyland now, he would enjoy it so much more than he did at five months.  Evan really seemed to enjoy Disneyland, but much of it was just beyond him at the time.  I cannot wait until our next Disney trip, and watch Evan's eyes light up at the sight of Mickey.

Zoos are a Childhood Love of Mine

I grew up loving the zoo.  As a kid, and even as a young adult, I went to the Columbus Zoo many times, enjoying the exotic animals.  Since we moved to northeast Pennsylvania, we haven't had the chance to go to a zoo, (except one brief trip to the National Zoo in Washington, DC.) primarily because the zoos in the area are not anywhere near the quality of the zoos I am used to.  Still, with the limited number of fun and educational things to do with my son in this area, we decided Evan is old enough to enjoy a zoo trip.

The closest zoo to us, Claws and Paws Animal Park, was out of the question because it is not accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which any mediocre zoo is, and it has a terrible reputation for keeping animals in very small enclosures, which is just sad.  Instead, we decided to take a trip south to the Lehigh Valley Zoo, a small zoo located within the Trexler Nature Preserve, a little north of Allentown, PA.  This zoo is still quite small by my standards, the Columbus Zoo being around ten times larger, and containing three times as many species as the Lehigh Valley Zoo has animals.  It is, however, much closer to us than the Philadelphia zoo, and is much easier to drive to and from in a day.

The Lehigh Valley Zoo Meets My Low Expectations

My expectations for the Lehigh Valley Zoo were pretty low, and the reality was about what I expected.  The zoo is quite small, the facilities are a bit old and in need of refurbishment, and the enclosures were lacking.  Aside from the enclosure for the penguins and gray wolves, the rest were a bit small, dull, and made use of far too much chain-link fence.  I tried to take some pictures, but many turned out poorly because I had no choice but to take them through the fence.  (And many of the ones that weren't through chain-link fence were ruined by what I think is a faulty capacitor in my phone, but that is another story)  Still, I did end up with a few decent pictures of Evan and a couple of the animals.

While the Lehigh Valley Zoo is nowhere near a world-class zoo, it is still nice for young children.  Evan had a fun time, and the size of the zoo was perfect for a seven month-old, who napped through the second half of the zoo.  Pretty much everyone there brought young children, and they all seemed to enjoy themselves.  It is still an educational experience, and we are planning on going back as it is one of the few places around we can take Evan at his age.

Evan had a great time, and we managed to get some awesome photos of him.

Another great photo of Evan.

The penguin exhibit wasn't too bad, and the kids loved to watch the handlers feed them.

The Gray Wolf enclosure was actually decent, though this was by far the largest enclosure
at the Lehigh Valley Zoo.

The petting zoo had goats only, and was all paved, so I felt bad for them, though I am not sure
the goats noticed.

The zebras and ostriches shared an enclosure, and it left something to be desired.

I can't remember the type of tortoise this is, but it lived in this sandy area between the
observation deck and path, only maybe fifty to one hundred square feet.  It did allow for
close-up photos, however.

One of the better photos I got was not an exhibit, but this spider near the Gray Wolf enclosure.

Evan enjoyed the trip, though he started getting tired about half way around the zoo.

As Ashly and I like to say, "...aaaand, he's out."

Now for some of the view-obstructed photos.  The Emus were all behind this chain link fencing,
which made getting a good shot impossible.

This would have been a good shot were it not for the fence.

As you can see from this series of photos, there is something wrong with the camera in my phone.
It used to just buzz occasionally, but now it also makes photos wavy and worthless when
it buzzes too.

The best area for photographs was the farm exhibit, which, as you might expect, is just a bunch
of farm animals.  I couldn't even get good shots of these, though, thanks again to my phone.

Again in the farm exhibit.  Were this photo not wavy, you would be able to make out an alpaca
and a llama.