Zoo Day!

So we did a little research and found a FREE zoo! I have never ever heard of any Zoo that is free. The dang Hogle Zoo is kind of expensive…well not really, but coming from a cheap-wad it kinda is! Needless to say, we were kind of excited to find something to do…especially something free to do!  

We also wanted to stop at the Mauna Loa macadamia nut farm and it was on the way so we did that too…which was also free :) We even got free samples of the garlic macadamias and chocolate covered macadamias. Mmmmm.  However, as much as it tried to be like the Dole Pineapple Plantation, it just could not pull it off. Poor thing. It was the lamest self-guided tour I think…no, I know…that I have ever been on. It consisted of looking through windows and seeing a bunch of equipment that was not turned on and some videos of animated macadamias being cracked open. BUT! That is somewhat a lie. We did see six ladies hand-placing the nuts in the chocolate. Kind of cool! Then Ry burst my bubble and said that they probably only have those ladies do it for the self-guided tour…and that machines really probably do most of them :( Oh well. It was kind of cool anyways.  Well, after walking around the nature walk, AKA a field with a couple of local trees and plants, we took off to the free zoo.



watching the "awesome" video



We had read some reviews on the zoo.  Some were good, some were bad. There were a few that said the zoo was too small and there wasn’t much to it. However, we were pleasantly surprised! We saw some really pretty birds and adorable monkeys and a white Bengal tiger and we even saw an ant eater! I had never seen an ant eater before!  It was pretty awesome. We even saw a couple animals that we had never even heard of before. Lots of fun.

My favorite animal there was the umbrella cockatoo. We used to have one of those at one point in my childhood. I believe her name was Morgan. I kind of can’t remember. Morgan may have been the grey bird’s name? Anywhoo…this bird LOVED Ry’s hat. The second we walked up she was sticking her foot through the bars to try to get it. I love Ry’s expression in these pictures :)



I felt bad for the bird so I told Ry to let her have his hat. Umm. Not the greatest idea. I forgot how much of a death grip those beaks have! We were glad to get his hat back without putting a hole in it. 

All in all, the zoo was a success. I even got a magnet to add to our lovely collection. My only complaint would be that we had to rush. I hope we get to go back before we leave this island!