I always loved going to zoos when I was growing up. The one in my town had free admission until I was in high school, so it was a common thing for my mom and grandma to take me there on an afternoon. I so loved seeing the animals.
It wasn't really until they started renovating to make better habitats that I realized how horrible the tiny old cages really were.
Anyway, after they started charging admission, we stopped going very often, but on the rare occasion that we would be traveling somewhere with a "good" zoo, my mom and I would go.
I continued visiting zoos and aquariums on my own or with friends when I was older, again while traveling.
At university, I was required to have an internship to graduate, and I did mine working a summer job in the horticultural department of a zoo about three hours away. (Since I had an interest in tropical plants, was assigned to the jungle exhibit. I loved being there early in the morning when the bird keepers were putting out fruit on the feeding platforms, and hearing the birds chirping. It was also my first "management" position, as that zoo had a work-release program with a local low-security prison, and the jungle had a permanently assigned inmate.
)
The last time I went was when Husband and I were honeymooning on Hawaii. We went to both the zoo an the aquarium there.
Now I have a lot of internal conflict about them, as I understand they are not good, but I've got so many happy memories associated with time spent at zoos.
In fact, most of my coffee mugs are from zoo/aquarium gift shops. When I use the one with the pufferfish on it, I remember the road trip my friends and I took to New Orleans, and the day we spent at the aquarium. The mug with the leafy sea dragon reminds me of my honeymoon. The tree frog mug was from the last trip my mom and her fiancé made to see me before he passed away.
I do try to visit botanical gardens instead now!
