So yesterday, we decided to take a trip up to Santa Barbara and go to the zoo! This was Abby’s very first trip and while we know she is still too young to really take everything in, we knew she would enjoy some it. That and Shaun and I enjoy the zoo as well. The Santa Barbara Zoo is an excellent place to go, especially with young kids. Its clean, well done and small enough that it only takes a few hours to enjoy everything there without feeling rushed.

When we arrived we walked started our walk through the zoo and Abby seemed pretty happy to be there, but then again she enjoys being out in her stroller. Who wouldn’t, right? Of all the things she did see, the flamingos certainly caught her attention. Is must have been their bright pink feathers!

After we admired the flamingos, we took off to visit the elephants! I love the elephants not sure why… I just do. Maybe its my love for Disney movies and my fondness of Dumbo, but who knows! They are impressive animals and so smart too. Of course, we had to stop for a picture with the elephants for Auntie Kenzi!

After we stopped at the elephants, we took off to visit the California Condors, the Bald Eagles and the Gorillas. The condors were incredible! Such awkward looking birds, but they are beautiful at the same time. The wing span was incredible and the condors within the habitat are fairly young too. I cant imagine how large that span is once they are full grown. Amazing!

The Bald Eagles were beautiful as well. Luckily we have had the chance to see them in the wild but these Bald Eagles were still just as beautiful. The eagles at the Santa Barbara Zoo are rehabilitation birds and cannot fly. They have been rescued after being injured and given a lovely place to live. Its nice to see a zoo take on such a worthy project.

After the Bald Eagles, we went over to the Gorilla Habitat. Unfortunately, it was warm enough out by that point that they were off sleeping in the shadows and couldn’t be seen. Bummer, they are such impressive animals. Oh well… I understood. It wasn’t an unusually hot day there, but in the sun it was definitely warm. Its OK… we got a picture of a monkey as you can see!

After the Gorilla’s we headed over to my favorite place at the Santa Barbara Zoo, the Giraffe habitat. I loved visiting the little Giraffe Gemina with the crooked neck. Unfortunately she passed away back in January of 2008. The Giraffe habitat wasn’t the same without her but she lived a very long life. I was about 7 or 8 when she was born and I have very fond memories of going to the zoo and watching her grow.

As we stood admiring the giraffes, in the next habitat over you could see and hear a lioness roaring and growling. It was a pretty amazing thing to see. I think it was lunch time and she was letting everyone know that she was ready to eat something! She was sitting over on the rocks that looked over the Giraffe enclosure, so maybe she was hoping to catch herself a giraffe for lunch?? Who knows, luckily those giraffes are safe.
After we visited the giraffes and lions we walked back towards the entrance to the zoo and stopped to visit all of the animals along the way. Our last big stop was at the penguin habitat and let me tell you, they were too cute! I love penguins! Some of them were swimming around and playing, others were waiting in a little cove for what I assume was probably lunch. There is a new addition to the penguin family but the little one wont be visible to the public until the end of the summer.

After a fun visit with the penguins we made our way to the entrance and stopped for a bite to eat. Abby seemed very happy to eat lunch, and mommy and daddy definitely were. Once lunch was over we took a walk through the gift shop to find something to commemorate Abby’s first zoo trip and then we left with a wonderful memory of our first trip to the zoo.

If you would like to see a slide show of our trip to the Santa Barbara, please click the following link.

SB Zoo