Mill Mountain Zoo

It's a sad, sad time in Blacksburg. Taco Bell is closed for renovations for a couple of MONTHS! Before we left for vacation, all was good. Now, it's down to the studs. Completely gutted. What are we to do?

To help drown out our sorrows (of the Taco Bell and the cloudy weather we brought home), we decided to go to the zoo. Roanoke has a very small zoo called the Mill Mountain zoo. I had been there once before when Blythe was about Ethan's age. Though small, it is very nice, very well kept and it sits on top of Mill Mountain, so you can't beat the scenery. They also have a neat little train, called the "Zoo Choo" (such genius naming, right?). Unfortunately the Zoo Choo wasn't functioning today. Boo.

They have a small petting area with sheep, goats, and a cow. They have a red panda that we saw get fed. They have birds, monkeys, a wolverine (Braden's favorite there...he really was cute), leopards, a cougar, a red wolf, and various other animals I've never heard of. When I asked Blythe which animal was her favorite, she said the tiger.

As you can tell, that one wasn't even real.

After we left the zoo, we picnicked out by the car, which was still at the top of the mountain and there was another playground there (there was also one inside the zoo). This playground had a really neat slide you actually had to climb up. No stairs.

And I've been trying for months to get a good picture of the kids together so I can replace my blog picture which is from last summer. Do you think one of these will work?