Hayward Zoo and Wilderness Walk

Saturday we meet our moms in Hayward at the Zoo and Wilderness Walk.  A colleague of mine mentioned it to me and said now was a great time of year to go because of all the baby animals.  We weren't really sure what to expect, but we thought we'd give it a try.  Our original plan was to go in the afternoon but after checking the weather, we decided morning would be the better time to go.  All our rain gear was packed, our layers as well, and we brought along the bug spray.  We drove the 90 minutes to the "zoo" and met our moms in the parking lot.  Lilly was SUPER excited to not only be going to the zoo, but Nana and Grandma were going to be there as well.

So excited about the goats.

 We started by feeding the fish in the trout pond.  I went into the bag to get Lilly's hat and dropped my sunglasses in the pond.  Oops!  Oh well.  It was a cloudy day, so I wasn't going to need them anyway.

Then, it was time for the goats.  They clearly knew it was time to get fed - Nick was putting a quarter in the machine and this is what you get . . .

 Nick couldn't even get the food out of the machine before they were trying to eat out of his hands.

After the goats, we went backwards and were in the Old Western town.  Not much happening there (we got there as soon as it opened) but Lilly explored the covered wagon and the teepee.  She really likes listening to the My First Little House books (Laura Ingalls Wilder), so it was kind of neat for her to sit in a covered wagon, but we don't think she really got the connection.

We made our way back past the goats and toward to the other animals.

The lemurs were so much fun to watch.  Lilly loved that there was a baby lemur clinging to its mama.  And the other lemurs had springs for legs.  It was insane how quickly they could leap around the cage and grab on to the fence.  Our timing was perfect, for any time we saw them later, they were curled up in the bed, resting.

Other animals - fighting bears (they are sisters apparently), geese just walking around, a zonkey (that would be a zebra and a donkey bred together), and Patagonia Cavies.  There was also a wallaby, lots of chickens, a camel, a horse, a tiger (sleeping, so rather boring), a coatimundi, and many other animals.

Watching the lemurs

Watching the geese

In the nursery to pet the baby animals.  Lilly would not pet the skunk.

Also in the nursery there were lots of babies. A goat wandering around, a fox, fawns, rabbits, a hedgehog, a lamb, ferrets, a yak, and chinchillas.

While Nick was taking our picture, the lamb came by and untied his shoe.
And also tasted his crutch.

I promise she was having fun!

Looking through the holes was a highlight.  Who knew.

Throughout the zoo there were signs.  I liked the caution I bite on the coatimundi's cage, followed by the caution, I may bite on the llama and alpaca pen.

For the first time that I can remember, I saw a peacock have its tail feathers open.  However, the photos didn't really turn out because I didn't want to take the time to figure out what setting to put the camera on so it would focus on the animal and not the cage.

We walked past the red deer, the Texas Long Horn (very aptly named), the gray wolf, porcupines, and probably other animals that I can't think of at the moment.  Lilly didn't want to leave, but it was closing in on nap time and we still needed to go lunch.  On our way out we did see goats up in the tower, which was pretty cool.

The red bucket had food in it, which enticed the goats up here.  We wanted
to see them cross the bridge, but no such luck.

We went to the Angry Minnow, a great brew pub in Hayward for amazing food but slow service.  Which meant we didn't get back into the car until 1:45, Lilly normally naps around 12:30 . . . She did remarkably well for being absolutely tired but the car ride back to Ashland was another story.  We were hoping she'd nap in the car, we'd get into our driveway, she'd still sleep and we'd put plants in the ground.  Nope.  The girl refused to sleep on the drive.  Any suggestion to close her eyes and rest was met with a resounding, "NO!" or "No close eyes and rest" or just plain screaming and crying.  Needless to say it was a horrific ride home.  As soon as we got home we brought her upstairs, Nick read a few books, and put her in her crib for a quick nap.  After five minutes of blowing raspberries, she fell asleep.

It was a perfect place for a toddler.  She could walk/run around everywhere, lots to catch her attention, but nothing too overwhelming.  We will probably be making another trip this summer, hopefully when the mosquitos have decided they've had enough of northern WI blood and moved on to other places.