A Birthday Escape

Saturday was my birthday. It was a gross, cold, snowy day. I’m already sick and tired of winter and ready for some warmer weather and brighter colors.

The logical  most cost-effective option for getting the temperatures I desire was to head to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. (The logical option would be hoping on a plane and flying to Caribbean…) Saturday was not a good day to walk around to zoo itself, but when my friend recommended the rain forest as a fun cold-weather break, I jumped at the idea. I had not been to the Cleveland Zoo before so it was a fun adventure.

Brad’s family came up and went with us. (Fun fact: My father-in-law designed the concrete support structures for the rain forest building.) It was nice to walk out of the cold snow and into the tropical temperatures. I was expecting rain forest plants and animals, but I wasn’t expecting orchids! There were orchids all over which I loved.

The animals were really interesting to see and learn about. I was surprised at how cool I thought the bats were. I could have stood in front of the bat window for hows and watched them hang, flutter around, climb branches and do other crazy bat things. The snakes, turtles and frogs were reasonably mellow. I loved the bright colors… and the fact that the snakes (and bugs) were behind glass. The piranhas were really pretty fish, but knowing reputation of piranhas, I have to wonder why the glass on their tank was only half height… as in if you were interested in possibly losing a finger, you could stick your hand in the water.

The most social animals were the orangutans and monkeys. There were two orangutans that were both trying to use the same piece of burlap as a blanket which deteriorated into swatting each other until one gave up and wandered off.

After we’d gone through the Rain Forest, we headed to Sweet Melissa for dinner and I closed the books on a wonderful birthday!