goodbye snake house

today marked the end of an era.

on sunday, our zoo will be closing the herpetarium, otherwise known as the snake house. now, i am not a fan of snakes or anything remotely resembling a snake, but i am a sentimentalist and i am sad about this. this is the same zoo i grew up visiting as a child. back then, they had these little buttons you could push underneath each exhibit to see if that particular reptile or amphibian was venemous or not. this was seriously one of my most favorite things at the zoo. i would try to guess and then see if i guessed correctly. i know, i'm weird.

now the zoo is not just eliminating the herpetarium all together. they are building a brand new spot for these creatures scheduled to open in february. the old snake house closes on sunday and will be torn down.

i hate that. i understand it is outdated and probably needs repair but why do you have to tear it down? it was built in the 1960's so it has all sorts of mid century modern influences throughout. i love it, minus the snakes and all.

but i am learning seasons come and seasons go, and i don't have any say about it.

but we had a good time today, nonetheless. i was a little skeptical about going because the skies looked like this this morning.

but the rain had stopped, the temperatures were in the 70's and the zoo was virtually empty! it was great!

i love how the giraffes must really spread their legs out to get down low enough to eat the grass.

noodle was really excited about having his picture taken, can't you tell?

now this thing just taunts me everytime we visit. this is the harpy eagle and it is seriously scary. and sick. and i am not sure why the Lord created such a thing. but the boys love to aggravate me by making sure we go to see him.

this is, according to him, his snake face (below).

see how empty the zoo was? even the train was deserted, a sight i don't think i have ever seen!