J suggested that we go to the Franklin Park Zoo in Boston this past weekend. I’m sure I was less than fully enthusiastic since I have memories of the zoo being a small sad little place. My oldest brother worked there as a part time volunteer when he was still a teenager. My Dad and I would go pick him up at the end of his shift, and sometimes we would go early and I could wander around.

That was more than 30 years ago though, and things have certainly changed in 30+ years! They really should do more to promote the place since I had no idea how much it had changed. The zoo I knew as a kid had a few monkeys, a moose, maybe a squirrel or two, a few ducks, a bluejay and a crow. It was pretty sad. Yes, I was a jaded hipster kid even back then.

It was only about 3 acres all those years ago, now it has expanded to more than 70 acres. And it has hundreds of animals. Gorillas, lions, hippos, giraffes, zebras, camels, and kangaroos. There’s plenty of animals to see. The animal enclosures are all very modern, using the new style of engineered stone walls and having a lot of the fencing hidden by trees. When I was a kid there were still a few empty concrete box style cages that were used for lions back in the 20′s.

Apparently, the Kevin James movie, Zookeeper was filmed there a couple of years ago. I had not even heard of that movie, which just shows how completely out of it I’ve been regarding movies these days.

When we entered and I took a look at the map, I was pretty excited to see all the new exhibits. We brought the stroller along, even though we haven’t used it in about a year. Good idea to bring the stroller since the Zoo is more than 70 acres now, and it would have been an even better idea to make sure the tires were inflated before we left. A quick stop at the stroller rental to borrow their pump, and we were off.

Only problem was hat Mr. C was not quite as excited as I was to be at the zoo.

Here he is trying to get out of his stroller as a peacock is trying to get his attention.

;

Where does he want to go ? The Zoo playground. Ok, I admit it was an awesome playground. It looked as though all the other 3 and 4 year old kids had the same idea since the playground was packed with kids. There were multi-level slides, an elevated walkway, tubes and chutes, a variety of xylophones and bongo drums, all on a squishy soft rubbery surface. Great for the little kids to bounce off of.

He probably spent more time there than anywhere else in the Zoo.

The Zoo might be a little unknown since it is located in a fairly hard to get to area. It’s really in the middle of a residential neighborhood, no where near any major highways. So, on the way out, I decided to try to find a better way home. Trying to out smart the Iphone on directions is not a good idea. I ended up taking a tour of my old neighborhood, and several other neighborhoods as well. I liked my tour down memory lane, but I’m not so sure J did. After adding about 20 minutes to our journey home, the exhausted Mr. C flopped down in bed.

He might be a bit too young to fully enjoy a yearly family membership, since I’m not sure I’d want to spend $90 to drive 50 miles to go to the playground. But he did have a great time. Maybe we’ll consider the family membership next year. Maybe then I’ll get to see all the stuff I missed this year!

He did play with his Playmobil Zoo all day today tough, so I might end up being wrong about the family membership.