Next Thursday on April 8th is the celebration of zoos called Zoo Lovers Day. Today, I will discuss my first time at the zoo, my favorite zoo animal, and the special souvenir that I received.
I been to the Bronx Zoo in New York multiple times in my lifetime and each time was better than the next. The first time at the zoo that I actually remember is when I was 8-years-old in 2007. It was small family trip with my parents, my aunt, uncle, and cousins on my father's side. The trip started waking up early in the morning on a summer weekend, because first my father like to get to things on time and 14 years later, he is still the same. Second the trip getting from Old Bridge, New Jersey to the Bronx Zoo in New York is a couple hours away. So, if the zoo opened at 10am, we left at 8am. I wore on that day is my Disney 2006 hat with Mickey Mouse in a Mets uniform pin, a zoo animal T-shirt, and camo shorts. My father had the Bronx Zoo membership, his camera, and two drinks in a traveling carrier for one beverage each, which was water and tea. I also remember taking two cars that day, one car was my parents and I with my mother driving and the other with my aunt, uncle and my two cousins with my one cousin doing the driving. We got there at 10am, but I know my cousin took a different route than us and beat us there.
Now, the Bronx Zoo for anyone who hasn't been there, the animals can be found by the continent, they are from or what type of animal family they belong to, and the zoo is huge that it has to be done in multiple days. For example, a zebra can be found in the African Plains, while an owl can be found in the Birds Of Prey. The animals, we wanted to see first was determined by what we really wanted to see, because how big the size of the zoo was, and so one of them was Birds Of Preys and the other bird exhibits. My aunt loves birds and at the time had tons of birds. We saw the rhinos, gorillas, bears, lions, gaffes, elephants and many more. Then went to see animals in the World Of Reptiles and Madagascar exhibits, because my father and my cousins owned snakes, frogs, and turtles in the past. My father photographed many pictures of the family like the picture above and the animals from our trip. In the afternoon, we took a break from sightseeing and had lunch, we went to the café at the zoo to have lunch around 12pm to 1pm. After lunch, we went to see more animals in the African Plains and in the Asian Tiger Mountains, which featured zebras, wild dogs, and tigers. I believe that was the time I did the camel ride as well. We finished our trip with the trolley ride to see more animals in the exhibits and learned interesting facts about the animals. Around 5pm, we headed on our way home to be home around 7pm.
My favorite animal at the zoo has to be the elephants, because they seem like playful happy animals, just don't steal their kids and they won't harm you. They have a fun personality, when they spray the water from their trunks. I guess a big reason why I like elephants so much is because, this is how they are depicted in movies. Disney's "Dumbo", it is fictional and animated, but it a fun story about a young elephant learning to fly. John Wayne's "Hatari," which have really funny scenes with elephants involved. For example, the last scene of the movie, when the elephants break one of the beds. Last, another fun Disney movie based on a true story called "Operation Dumbo Drop", which is about the time during the Vietnam War, where United States' soldiers have to deliver an elephant to a Vietnamese village. 
elongated pennies, penny books and penny machines
One special souvenir that I have got from the zoo is the Bronx Zoo and New York Aquarium's oval tokens with animals on it. I remember I would always get 51 cents from the piggy bank to turn the leaver to get one of these tokens. I actually still have one from one of my trips either at the Bronx Zoo or New York Aquarium on one of my shelves as decoration. These token machines with the leaver would be found all over the park and it was kind of like a gum ball machine, but it was manual labor to get it. There was usually 4 choices and you were able to pick one you wanted like there was tigers, lions, seals, turtles, and many more on these tokens.
Let me know what your first trip at the zoo was? How old were you? What zoo did you go to? Last, what are your favorite zoo animal and special souvenir in the comments below?
photos and everything ... cool !
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