Photo-A-Day #1631
Today Allison, Eva and I headed to the Miami Metro Zoo with Mimi and Grandpa Dano. We had gone to the zoo last year and really liked it because we got in totally free with our Capron Park Zoo membership. This year we have a Zoo New England family membership and that got us in Half price. The Capron Park Membership was a much better value in that way. We’ll have to look closer at our choice when it is time to renew our memberships with Zoos this coming year.
We took the rental car, a Ford Flex, down for the trip. I think it is safe to say that everyone liked riding in it and I for one loved driving it. I drive a tiny Honda Civic and really want to go smaller with the SmartCar however having plenty of room in the Flex was a welcome change. It was a nice ride down and back (2 plus hour round trip). Before we got to the zoo we made a quick side trip to Demalogica for some supplies for Allison and Mimi. Then we were off again.
Last year when we went tot he zoo I saw that they had surreys for rent. A surrey is a two or four person bike that looks like a car, two people in front two in back and there were places to put bags (or small kids) in a basket in front. Unfortunately Eva was not at all interested in sitting in the basket in the front, nor was she interested in sitting with Mimi and Grandpa Dano in the back. So she sat between Allison and I in the front. And, like when Eva sleeps in our bed (very rare occasions as we do not want to encourage that) she takes up more space than one would imagine for someone so small.
We decided to ride the surrey out to the furthest point of the park and then slowly come back down and enjoy the exhibits. Let me tell you, I’ve been working out for about an hour every morning when I work at the office and I thought I’d be ready to pedal this surrey everywhere with no problem. With the heat here (90+ degree day) and a bicycle built for four I found it not that easy the whole time. The zoo has a few subtle hills it is rolling up and down all over the place. Overall it was a fun thing to do. Note: the Zoo New England Pass did not give us a discount on the Surrey. The Capron Park one should have last year but we didn’t use them then.
We ended up stopping right away at the Asian Elephants because they were out and playing in the water.
After riding pretty far through the park we took a break and Eva was very cranky from the heat and being overtired. So, we headed down to the water pad and let her run around and get wet and refreshed. She loved running around and playing with the other kids and with Mimi and Allison. I got some fun family only photos while we were there. She was so cute.
We had a relaxing lunch and then rode the surrey to the furthest point of the park and saw the Giraffe’s (Eva’s Favorite) and then a Black Rhino, some more Elephants and the tigers. Oh I love the tigers they are so beautiful. To me they seem so much more elegant than lions even though I love lions too. We stayed around and took a few shots of the tigers and then we dropped off the surrey, hit the gift shop and headed for home.
We had a wonderful day.
Great pictures from the zoo. Looks like Eva is enjoying herself.
Funny you should mention this stuff about memberships. I saw on Facebook this beer tasting event at Mystic Seaport, down in CT. We’ve always wanted to see this museum, as we LOVE these living history places, and this was a great kick in the butt to do so.
The fee for the event was separate from regular museum admission. But it was cheaper with a membership. Now, we could have gotten a discount to Mystic Seaport with our Old Sturbridge Village membership card…but not a discount for the beer event. It turned out that buying a Mystic Seaport membership, and then buying the beer thing tickets, would be cheaper in the long run. And then we can come back for free for a year.
We became members of OSV back in 2005. Adult admission there is $20.00, a dual membership was $80.00 at the time, so the membership paid fr itself after two visits. I just renewed ours for three years, because it’s cheaper and the rates are going up next year.
We also have a membership for Strawbery Banke in Portsmouth, NH. Once again, we could have gotten a discount with our OSV card, but getting into the special events we wanted to go to still would have cost money. So that’s another membership that has already paid for itself, in fact, we’re going there today.
So now we are members of OSV, Strawbery Banke, and Mystic Seaport. But the way we travel to these places, we have saved money.
So yeah…definitely sit down and figure out where you will be going, and decide what membership(s) would be worth it for you. We have memberships in all of those places because we did the math, and it was cost-effective for us.
Dad,
Eva is having a good time we’ll try and give a call tonight. Today she’s going to the pool. She’s excited about that.
Christine,
The Zoo New England pass gets us free admission to Franklin Park Zoo, Stone Zoo, Capron Park Zoo, Roger Williams Park Zoo and one other New England Zoo. It also gets us free into some reciprocal zoos. But it gets us in for 1/2 off at other zoos. It has more than paid for itself in the fun we have at the zoos we have gone to this year. I’ll have to figure out what we should have as memberships this year and also the local library sometimes has free passes to things but you have to plan ahead.
Adorable tiger mask! I didn’t know you could even get passes for multiple zoo trips. I know they have one for national parks but not the zoos so that’s new info for me. Thanks.
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Baba,
Yes, if you check to see if your zoo is part of an association or even buying a pass from a national zoo association, there are so many reciprocal programs out there too.