Franklin Park Zoo

Woot! An adventure to a zoo! To be honest, that is the first time in ten years that I have been, and Locksley has never gone before, though I've told him (more than once) that he belongs in one.


The ride itself was actually quite exciting too. We were using a GPS (fondly known as Jill) and she started to get mad at us because we took a thousand wrong turns and she had to keep recalculating. Note about Boston... Every road leads you somewhere, but never to where you need to go. Obviously not a fantastic destination for tourists who have some where to be. The view around was not actually that bad,but my camera was not available at the time for pictures. We did however, get a cool shot of a Direct TV blimp right above us on the Mass Pike. Pretty cool!

After we finally listened to Jill and had found Franklin Park Zoo, we parked and locked up, then followed painted Zebra tracks up to, you guessed it, the Zebra Entrance. I had a nifty new 'telescopic' lens that I was trying out, but it was better for things hundreds of feet away and not so for the painted Zebra tracks five feet below it. So I didn't get those. I did however, get a picture of the entrance sign.



There are two entrances, one that it more of an antechamber, and then one that you have to pay someone to walk through, thought why such security I'll never know. I mean, are there really people in the city of Boston who would try to smuggle out an ostrich or lion or something?? Anyway, there was a statue of polar bears made out of recycled tin cans and the like. There were two, but my camera only zoomed far enough back to get one, but it got the details pretty good, I thought.



After entering the actual zoo, the first thing we noticed (well I noticed)
was the zebras, obviously the reason for the 'Zebra' Entrance. We snapped a couple of shots, then Locksley noted that there were Wildebeests and I quote ' they are far more interesting than the striped pyjama butts over there'. Is there any wonder why he has been kicked out of the normal animal kingdom?


Here are some Zebras, and an ostrich, and a couple of wildebeests.

A Zebra, eating his lunch

Another zebra, looking at us

An ostrich

a couple of wildebeests

Then, we went to lunch. It has now become tradition for you to see my lunch, though I'm sure that none of you really care. It does make Locksley happy though, like a food journal or something. So here is lunch.

I literally took this picture from halfway across the restaurant. Ask around... there were witnesses :)

Ok, after our quick meal, it was pretty routine zoo visiting. We saw some animals I expected to see, and some I didn't. They have a pretty small collection (I thought) but then again, I haven't had the ability to collect anything more than an irritable raccoon. :P

Here are some of the animals we saw...

First off... BIRDS! (NOTE: They were not in fact first. I chose to list them in like order rather than when-we-saw-them order. Also note that Locksley is not in any of the pictures, even though I tried, and even threatened to leave him behind in the lion enclosure... )

A peacock that was outside eating leftover french fries

Some sort of African Crane

OK, this was not an exhibit bird, but he sat pretty close

A Hornbill

A close up of the Hornbill. Who knew they had eyelashes?

Flamingos. They STINK!

A kookaburra

A condor, eating something that was alive and furry probably an hour before...

A rainbow bird... Ok, I didn't bother to look up it's name.

Budgie Tree!

The budgie that landed on me and let me touch it!
(I should have traded Locksley for it)

A Black Swan

An Emu (NOT an ostrich) butt.


Furry Animals...

A white tiger. He wasn't interested in talking with me.

A regular tiger. He didn't want to talk to me either.

Christopher, the lion.

Christopher, bored and sleeping.

A camel

A tree Kangaroo

A real kangaroo

A female gorilla who was watching Locksley watch her. FUNNY!

A taper. This one was the baby.

The lemur that was playing with us through the glass.

Other not-so-animal things:

The bird house (this was an original structure, before the zoo was here)

Tiger Lilies by the Tiger Cage.

A statue by the Gorilla Entrance. This was also here before the Zoo.

A Folly. Here before the zoo says the sign.


My camera died about this time in our adventure, so I didn't get the fruit bats, tamirins, or pygmy falcons, and it died just before I had the most fun with an animal ever. I played eye-stare-and-who-can-wiggle-their-eyebrows-the-best game, and I think the mandrill I was playing with won... :)

Finally, we took a quick spin through the gift shop where I saw a couple of funny t-shirts I wanted to get but didn't, a penny squisher machine that I did use, and a couple of keychains I liked but resisted... until next time.

Peace until then dear readers!