Fill in the Blank Park Zoo

We journeyed to Des Moines on Labor Day weekend in order to take the kids to the zoo. The zoo in Des Moines is called "Blank Park Zoo" so we were amused enough by that name to come up with silly puns like the one above.

This turned out to be a really great zoo and the kids had a great time. Also, the weather could not have been more perfect. Mid-70's and sunny. For those of you familiar with Chicago-area zoos, this was closer in size to Lincoln Park than Brookfield. But they had some really great hands-on exhibits for kids, including a large petting zoo where you could pet the animals and feed the psycho Koi fish.

It was a little intimidating trying to pet this guy

The llama was a little more manageable

It's the eldest Billy Goat Gruff! (currently a favorite bedtime story)

Wow that is one hot mama!

The Psycho Fish!


They also had an australian outback area where the animals just roamed free all around you. There were wallaby's and Emu's that would come right up to us. I was tempted to try to ride the Emu, but Joel said he didn't think that was a very good idea.

Here's a wallaby

Here's the emu. See? I think I could have ridden that thing.

Can you spot the tortoises in this picture?

Here's what he looked like up close. I wonder if he can actually lift that shell off the ground. That would be pretty impressive. All they did was lay there while we were watching.

Silas reports that his favorite animal was the tiger (must be because of his sleeping situation) and Joel says his favorite were the jellyfish. All of us loved the aquarium area, as they had some incredibly unique sea creatures in there.

Joel loved the elephant misting machine. He got totally soaked.

This wobbly bridge in the tropical area was a big hit with Joel too.

Joel's jellyfish - I made the mistake of mentioning they had jellyfish when we first entered the zoo and all day Joel kept asking, "Can we go see the jellyfish now PLEASE?" Finally we made it.