Tim & Heather: Nashville Zoo!!

As we begin to post on a more regular basis, the topics covered here will inevitably shift from highlights of the last few months to things we did this last week. Of course, the big things will still be blogged, but we will be throwing in a bit more narrative on our weekly happenings and thoughts. I have really appreciated the feedback in these last few weeks. It's really great to know that people are enjoying reading this blog! We are happy to write it as long as people are wanting to read it!

Yesterday, we FINALLY made it to the Nashville Zoo! It's hard to believe that it took us three years to make the 15-minute trip to the Zoo. Better late than never!

If we had to give a grade to the Zoo, it would be a solid B. Aka, good, not great. Taking into account the fact that this zoo is in a city the size of Nashville, I think they are doing a pretty good job! There were definitely more good than bad things about it. Here's a short summary of what we thought:
Pros:

Parking - Plenty of it and not too much of a walk to the entrance
Value - It took us around two hours to walk through the whole thing. Admission is $15 per person with $5 for parking. By the time we finished, our feet were ready to be done, and we felt like we got our money's worth
Animals - This may go in both columns. Some of the animals were fantastic - Gibbon monkeys, giraffes, zebras, and flamingos.
Layout - There were restrooms, garbage cans, and food/drink vendors placed very conveniently around the park. They also did a great job of keep the park clean. I saw a good handful of employees picking up stray trash throughout the day. In my opinion, paying attention to these seemingly small things can make a huge difference in how the park feels. This is one area where I think Disney parks really excel. Not noticing empty cups, wrappers, and cigarette buds laying around allows you to focus on the real attractions of the park. This zoo is designated as smoke-free, which I personally appreciate.

Cons:

There were two main areas that featured large animals (elephants in one, and zebras and an ostrich in the other). Indeed some animals need expansive areas in which to roam, so the designers should create viewing areas to both encourage the animals to hang out close to the people, and give people multiple opportunities to get a good look at the animals. I believe this zoo falls short on both of those. For the elephants, there are only two areas where you can see them. The area where the elephants enter the field is in the far back, which is probably 150 yards from the first viewing site. Even though the elephants are magnificently large, it's still quite a distance away for the naked eye. The other viewing site, where the two pictures above were taken, allows you to get a bit closer to them, but it is nothing more than a small clearing in the bushes, so people have to pack into a tiny area and you feel rushed by the people coming in behind you. For the zebra enclosure, there was only one area where you could really see them. We had a great view of these animals, but I feel that we were a bit lucky because they happened to be grazing right in front of us.
In a few other exhibits, we felt that viewing was still an obstacle. In the cougar exhibit, for example, there is no dedicated viewing area. In fact, you are just supposed to stop on a little bridge and look out. Well, look up is more like it. The exhibit is on a fairly steep hill and unfortunately, the walkway is at the bottom. This in and of itself isn't terrible, but the slope works against you. There is a deep landing at the top of the hill where the cougars like to sleep (out of view).

Meerkat Manor (Nashville)

Storks are much bigger than I thought! I got an opportunity to tell a little kid that that is where babies come from... (hehe!)

Zebras + lone ostrich

I discovered on this trip that the camera on my new phone (Samsung Galaxy S3) is really great in photos where I don't need to zoom. Unfortunately, despite the 8MP sensor, the 10X digital zoom really kills the clarity of photos. I know, I know, that's the nature of digital zoom, but I think this camera deals with it worse than others. Perhaps others have interpolation algorithms that this doesn't? Not sure, but I think in the future if I'm anticipating needing to take distance photos, I'll stick to our regular Canon camera.