Mothers Day at the Zoo

I'm still really pissed off at the Oakland Zoo. I'm not sure if they were just so inundated with people Sunday that they gave up and let everyone in, or they just sold too many timed entry tickets... but let me go back before going forward:

We were rather surprised to see that the Oakland Zoo apparently never lifted the protocols they put in place during the pandemic, and that advance tickets with timed entry are ALWAYS required at the zoo now. Cailin ordered the tickets (and paid the parking) online, with a timed entry for 12:30, which means we could enter any time between 11:30 and 1:30. It was encouraging to know (at the time we THOUGHT we knew) that the zoo would not be overcrowded, since we'd seen nothing but long lines everywhere when we tried to get brunch Sunday morning after Cay and Patrick got off the plane.

So we were even MORE surprised to get to the zoo and face a line of cars, then be waved into a field on the hillside to park because the parking lots were full.

Now the lack of consideration on the part of the zoo was horrendous. Sure, it was me, walking in my new orthotic insoles and restricted from walking on uneven ground, but it was also a very elderly woman in a wheelchair on the other side of the rustic dirt track.

Once in the zoo, of course the lines were long for the tram up to the California exhibit (we didn't do it) and the petting barn (which is Cay's favorite, but we skipped it) although there was plenty of room in the zoo itself for the great number of people that were there, which begged the question, if the zoo feels it can hold that many people and wants to sell tickets for that many people at once, why doesn't it have parking for that many people, since it obviously has space for parking in the fields and hillside?

The zoo is, as I've previously written, a pretty good small zoo. I really enjoyed a discussion with one of the zookeepers about the Hammerkop, which is now my second favorite bird (my first is the Southern Ground Hornbill)

Anyway, as far as photos go, I didn't take as many as I usually do at zoos, despite having been there for 4 hours Sunday. The day was more about relaxing and social time with the kids.