Milwaukee County Zoo Review

This morning we drove down to Milwaukee from Oostburg (about a 35-minute drive) and took X-man to the Milwaukee Zoo. The wind has kicked up something fierce on Lake Michigan after a couple days of the water being serene. And now the waves are breaking about 30 yards out and they're about 3 feet tall, which is pretty impressive. Not ocean impressive, sure, but definitely lake impressive.

Anyway, I am two ways about zoos. I think that as people we suck for plucking wild animals out of their natural habitats and putting them in a zoo. However, I do have to say that as a kid (and even now as an adult), I loved going to the zoo because it taught me a lot about appreciating animals, ecology, evolution and science. 

The cost of the zoos are getting steeper too. We were at Brookfield near Chicago in June and past the regular zoo admission there were LOTS of add ons like dolphin shows or zoo rides. Milwaukee is a bit cheaper, but it's also half the size. It's $11.25 during peak season per adult, but kids 2 and under are free. It does have its own add ons (skip the sky ride, so not worth it, but if you have a train fanatic, the little train looks fun. Unfortunately, we melted down before we could go on it). 

We arrived around 11 a.m. and left around 2 p.m. when X-man refused to walk and refused to ride in the stroller. And well, we made it clear that we refused to carry him. So, we were at an impasse and took him home (i.e. carried him out to the car screaming "More animals, more animals!").

However, before the post-lunch, pre-nap meltdown (he's been asleep now for 2 hours, and survived the move to the house from the car), we had a good time wandering around. 

His favorite animals this trip were the Prairie Dogs. Prior to this he's been in love with Meerkats, so it's not hard to see how he made the jump.

They also have an impressive Ape house and a family farm that you can visit to see how a farm operates. 

But my favorite part of this zoo, was that it was food friendly. I ordered a veggie burger on whole wheat combo for my lunch and shared the fries with X-man. In return, he shared his mega fruit salad and yogurt dip with me. MacTroll had his 3rd brat in as many days with his fries and coke. X-man also drank apple juice out of a big boy cup (we neglected to bring his cup in from the car with us in all of the "Hooray! Zoo!" excitement).

We came home with a monkey shirt for him to sleep in. (The whole way through the zoo, all he wanted to see were the monkeys, and, lucky us, we got to see a few of them mating.) Now the family is resting (Riley and X-man are still sleeping) and MacTroll and I are working on arrangements for X-man and I to potentially go to San Francisco for MacWorld this year.