Milwaukee County Zoo
Trip to the Zoo
This part Friday, I tagged along with my parents to go visit my sister and nephew in Milwaukee. We took a trip to the Milwaukee County Zoo. We felt safe enough going there since it’s mainly outdoors.
Masks Required
When we arrived at the zoo, the ticket attendant asked if we had masks. We did, of course. It made me feel a little safer knowing that they were requiring masks to be worn throughout the zoo. I had been a little bit concerned about that.
Penguin Lady
The first exhibit when you walk in to the zoo is the penguins. If you didn’t already know this, I love penguins! I have been able to meet, pet, and paint with some penguins over the recent years, and those have been some of my favorite days!
Anyways, we looked at the penguins for awhile and Dad, like he does anytime penguins come up, told my nephew that I am the penguin lady.
Me, the Penguin Lady, at the Milwaukee County Zoo 8/7/20
Primates
We walked through the building the gorilla lives in, but he wasn’t there. This was disappointing, but they had a sign stating that they give him some time away from people during the day because he has social anxiety. I can relate.
We did get to see some monkeys, Spider Monkeys and an Orangutan later on, so we still got to visit “our relatives as my dad said multiple times throughout the day. According to my sister, we only got to see about 1/3 of the primate exhibits. Most of the building was shut down due to COVID.
Lack of Animals
Unfortunately, the gorilla wasn’t the only animal that wasn’t visible. We also didn’t get to see a grizzly bear, a rhino or many big cats. This disappointed my parents.
We discussed not even going in to the aquarium building, as we didn’t want to be in an enclosed space with a crowd. My sister said there was a cool octopus (eek) and jellyfish inside that we should see.
Guess which exhibits were empty?
Yeah. No octopus or jellyfish.
This was one of the few areas where Stephen could easily see the animals, however, so we spent a decent amount of time letting him watch all the different fish and turtles swimming.
Animals We Did See!
Through the rest of the zoo, we saw giraffes; which were actually plentiful, a black bear, flamingos, a badger, and probably some others I can’t think of at this moment.
Carousel
As we were winding down, we came across the carousel, which was operating at limited capacity. Myself and my sister took Stephen for a ride. He did NOT like it at first. After I looked back at him ( I was on the horse in front of him) and said “Wee!” a bunch, he seemed to calm down a little.
My dad was taking pictures every time we came around. I realized I was smiling at the camera even though I was wearing a mask. It’s awkward.
Next, Dad wanted to take Stephen on the carousel again. He once again took awhile to be okay with it.
Masks
Though people seemed to be really good with wearing their masks correctly while in the zoo, there were some that blatantly disobeyed the rule. Despite many signs all over the place stating visitors needed to wear masks correctly, there were people walking around without their nose covered or wearing their masks under their chins.
There was one family in particular that really irritated me. It was (I assume) a mom with 3 kids, pushing one in a stroller. They were all wearing their masks on their chins. Great role model, lady. The part that stuck out to me was that the mom’s tank top said “Obey”.
Really?
Walking around wearing a shirt that says “Obey” while clearly disobeying the zoo and state’s rule to wear a mask. Sheesh…some people….
Peacock
On our way out of the zoo, we saw a peacock laying in the grass. My sister was actually concerned for it. We walked a little closer to it and its head popped up, so I assume it was OK. Hopefully.
Outside of the disappointment that a lot of the animals we wanted to see weren’t out, it was a good day. It’s always good to spend time with my family. It felt like a little more normalcy, despite wearing the masks.
