Me & U at the Zoo

Thanks to the Abbotsford Groupon for providing a discount on the hefty admission charge to get into the zoo.  This was my second trip (first time was in 2007 when I was there as a volunteer for a MS Charity Walk).  The zoo isn't actually in Abby.  It's not even  in Vancouver! It's in Aldergrove which is just outside of Fort Langley off the #1 Hwy. 

at 5048 - 264th Street, just 500 metres south of the Trans Canada Highway, at Exit # 73.

The Groupon was $20 for two adults and Masey was free because he’s under 4.  (Would have been $35.70 + HST)/

We left at 11:30 and had to deal with a lot of congestion the #1.  They are doing construction all the way to the Portmann Bridge and it took forever to get there!

Finally at 1pm we arrived and using the Groupon was easy, then we had to pay for parking $5.00 for all day  (the parking meters are located just inside the zoo, through the arch way).  Clayton prepaid for us to go on the Mini Choo Choo ride (Mason loves trains) which was $5.00 each (adults).  We had just over an hour to wander before the train left at 2pm.

I was smart enough to bring gloves but I wish I had brought more clothes and a scarf.  Mason was dressed for the rain but we forgot his gloves (as did most parents) and his little fingers were frozen.

Upon walking into the Zoo, Mason was  more fascinated with the random machinery (diggers + tractors) and then caught eye of the playground which he insisted on crawling over the rain soaked slides. 

 

They even had a playground pig:

The park adjoined another habitat.  We weren't sure what was on the only side as it was heavily treed, so Mason took a peek through the fence:

Random Peacocks wandered freely around the park and after we had lunch, we took a stroll.  There were four giraffes in a large area.  We weren’t very close but it was neat to watch them.  You forget how tall they really are!  We also saw a tortoise, hoppy things (Kangaroos?) and a Lynx.

There were quite a few animal 'statues' (c'mon, I'm here to see the real thing!)

Back to the train area and we made a quick pit stop in the rest area which also was the food area.  I scanned the prices of the meals and they were over priced as usual.  They claimed their pizza wasn’t frozen.  Clayton had packed a picnic so we had our own meal in the covered picnic area.

Ready for the train!

I was excited!  If you read my blog about Bright Nights at Stanley Park last December, we missed an opportunity to ride the train as it was sold out.  The train ride was about 20 mins and well worth it.  It covered the vast majority of the property line and the conductor told us all about each animal (including their names an where they originated from).  I wondered how animals that were native to places like Africa acclimatized to such a colder place.  I wouldn’t be happy if it was me!

Mason seemed to enjoy the ride and pointed out at the animals we saw.  Like a protective Mama bear, I had him on my lap and my gloved hands covered his wee fingers to keep them warm.  After the train ride was over, it started to rain a bit.  I wasn’t going to lie, I was freezing and tired.  I don’t do well with either.  Mason didn’t seem to know what he wanted to do, so we hung around for a few minutes longer until I asked him if he wanted to see more animals or go home. 

“Home” was the answer.  So off we went to the car and back into the traffic heading West.  It wasn’t long before our monkey was fast asleep. 

For more information about the Zoo -http://www.gvzoo.com

And for membership info - http://www.gvzoo.com/Membership

Go Back

Comment