Wildlife World Zoo

Since the boys and DH were all home today, we decided to finally do something we had thought about many, many times - go to the Wildlife World Zoo! We regularly go to the Phoenix Zoo with our annual pass and we love it. But the Wildlife Zoo has the animals up close and personal. It's quite a drive for us, and more expensive, so it will never replace the Phoenix Zoo, but it's a fun special treat.

The weather was horrid, however. It rained almost the whole time we were there and dangit, I forgot to bring my jacket! I was so worried about getting jackets for everyone else, I went off and forgot mine. And I paid for it dearly as my teeth chattered and the wind blew and I quickly got wet. Thank goodness my shirt had a hood on it so I could at least cover my head when it rained. Of course, by the end of the day my hair was matted down anyway.

One of the big attractions there is the albino white alligator, one of the rarest animals in the world. It doesn't survive very long in it's natural habitat because it has no way of protecting itself from the sun. So the ones that get past infancy are captive, like this one: Looks like a statue, doesn't it? I stood taking photos of it for several minutes and it never moved a bit. I was beginning to think it was a statue! But later we walked by it and it had changed position, then it moved. So it's real. Heh. It's probably about 5 feet long.

Their entire reptile exhibit was pretty cool. Over the years, being a mom of 4 boys, I've had no alternative but to reconcile myself with looking at snakes and lizards, etc. They don't creep me out quite as much as they used to, but I won't be surprised if I have nightmares tonight!