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We took a day away from things today, and traveled to the Toledo Zoo. One of the many nice things about being a member of the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo is that your membership allows you free admission to many other zoos around the country. There are several within range of the Summit City that make for nice day trips, and with your membership card, you're only out the cost of fuel for you and the car. We were going to go yesterday, but Toledo was experiencing the same weather as we were yesterday, and today's forecast promised overcast but dry skies.
So, of course, it began drizzling nearly the second we crossed into Lucas County. . .we had to duck into doorways a few times after arriving but, overall, we stayed fairly dry. Check out the face on this big guy. . .
Not every exhibit is "family friendly". . .we had to explain that one of the turtles was "just giving the other one a really big hug". . .
For some reason, I couldn't get that old song by Sir Mix-a-lot out of my head after this exhibit. . .
On the way home, we made a detour to Independence Dam State Park, where we watched a guy reel in a catfish that wasn't quite as big as this one at the zoo's aquarium. . .
'rangs are always as fun as a barrel full of monkees, ahem, and this one decided to climb onto the acrylic ceiling over our heads and stick out his tongue. . .
I heartily recommend the Toledo Zoo to other families. There's definitely something for everyone's interests, the food and giftshop prices are reasonable, and there's a nice mix of indoor and outdoor exhibits; an important feature on a questionable weather day like today. It's easy to spend an entire day there and, with the improvements being made to US 24, the drive will continue to get better and better. It was just under two hours from here in Aboite to the zoo's front entrance.
Jody had a seminar today and tomorrow in Indy, so the girls and I tagged along yesterday and spent the night:
We returned home from Florida yesterday afternoon, after three long days and four very short nights in Kissimmee. Both flights were uneventful; we've flown Allegiant twice before, but this time I had stumbled across some rather unnerving news pre-flight. It turns out that the CEO of Allegiant Air used to run another small discount airliner. . .it's name was Jet Blue! In all fairness, Jet Blue became AirTran, and both they and Allegiant have maintained clean records for years.
Jody did alot of research over the last month or two, and discovered that it was as cheap to rent a home down there as it was to stay in a decent hotel, so that's what we did:
This was our home for most of the week. It was a beautiful and spacious villa with 4 bedrooms, three baths, and an enclosed pool. Jody's parents were able to fly down and share our accommodations as well. We didn't spend alot of time in it, but it was nice to come home to at night!
That's our crappy rental car in the driveway - a 2007 Ford Taurus with alignment issues. Heh. . .it was CHEAP! ;)
We arose at O-Dark-Hundred on Tuesday, and dragged our tired butts to the Magic Kingdom and Epcot Center. We'd both been to these before, on our honeymoon, but it was a first for the kids:
Magic Kingdom
Samantha and Sabrina were fearless at the Magic Kingdom, and talked about nothing but Splash Mountain and Space Mountain! Epcot, which I found to be sorta boring 12 years ago, has some great newer rides: "Soarin" that simulates hang gliding over California - GM's Test Track in which YOU get to be the crash test dummy on the track - and a Mission to Mars space flight simulator that was nothing short of amazing!
Epcot
On Wednesday, we tackled the Animal Kingdom and MGM Studios (MY favorite Disney park):
Posing with Mickey
Animal Kingdom is a newer Disney park, and we could have spend at least an entire day there, but we had to get to MGM so my little daredevils could ride the Tower of Terror. I'd told them all about it, and they couldn't wait to drop thirteen stories several times!
MGM magic places me in Frisco
We wrapped things op on Thursday, saving the best for last, and visited Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure:
In front of Universal (duh)
Universal Studios, IMHO, by far one of the best attractions in the USA! Sabrina FREAKED OUT on the Jaws Encounter boat tour! We scored front row seats on the boat, and I have to credit the "tour guide" who stayed totally in character despite Sabrina screaming in his face the entire time! He totally cracked up at the end of the ride, and said that she had THE best face he'd ever seen react to that ride. ;) She calmed down enough to have her picture taken in front of the hanging shark one block away:
Catchin' a Wave
It was a nice little adventure, but I think we'll make it a full 7-day tour next time around - there's just too much too see and do in a short time frame! And we didn't even venture beyond Disney and Universal.
We took a day away from things today, and traveled to the Toledo Zoo. One of the many nice things about being a member of the Fort Wayne Children's Zoo is that your membership allows you free admission to many other zoos around the country. There are several within range of the Summit City that make for nice day trips, and with your membership card, you're only out the cost of fuel for you and the car. We were going to go yesterday, but Toledo was experiencing the same weather as we were yesterday, and today's forecast promised overcast but dry skies.
Not every exhibit is "family friendly". . .we had to explain that one of the turtles was "just giving the other one a really big hug". . .
For some reason, I couldn't get that old song by Sir Mix-a-lot out of my head after this exhibit. . .
On the way home, we made a detour to Independence Dam State Park, where we watched a guy reel in a catfish that wasn't quite as big as this one at the zoo's aquarium. . .
'rangs are always as fun as a barrel full of monkees, ahem, and this one decided to climb onto the acrylic ceiling over our heads and stick out his tongue. . .
I heartily recommend the Toledo Zoo to other families. There's definitely something for everyone's interests, the food and giftshop prices are reasonable, and there's a nice mix of indoor and outdoor exhibits; an important feature on a questionable weather day like today. It's easy to spend an entire day there and, with the improvements being made to US 24, the drive will continue to get better and better. It was just under two hours from here in Aboite to the zoo's front entrance. 
