How Special is the Jacksonville Zoo
This March, My Aunti Marissa, Cousin Marlene and I got to spend a very special day at the Jacksonville Zoo thanks to my friend Nikki. Nikki works for the Jacksonville Zoo as chief philanthropy and community engagement officer. Nikki’s son plays goalie on my son’s hockey team and that is how we met and I’ll tell you this, I’m forever grateful for meeting such a wonderful human!
Earlier this year, my son’s hockey team played a tournament in Nashville. I brought Aunti Marissa along because she loves watching his team play and because I just knew that she would LOVE the hockey moms on Luke’s team. And that she did and they loved her. It was an incredible trip. During this time bonding with the hockey moms, she got to spend time talking to Nikki about her job and her connection to the animals at the Jacksonville Zoo. Aunti Marissa is a lover of animals and when Nikki mentioned she could take us for a special day at the Zoo I thought Marissa was going to keel over. She couldn’t have been more excited…
My cousin Marlene was coming to visit on the date that worked best for this day out at the Zoo so we were able to bring her along. Here’s how this day played out…
We arrived at the Zoo in the morning. Nikki was ready to take us directly to the Elephants. She told us we were going to do Elephant Painting. I had no idea what that meant and to be honest I was nervous because I’m not super artistic and wasn’t really in to the idea of painting. Lucky for me…I was not going to be doing any of the painting. Sheena the Elephant was! We met the Elephant trainers who were awesome and they had us each choose a bottle of paint. I chose metallic silver, Marissa chose neon pink and Marlene chose red. Then we went over to Sheena, a loving, kind, smart Elephant who was rescued from Africa where she was at risk for having her tusks taken and we got to her in action. She was such a good listener. The trainers were able to make her flap her ears, lift her leg as a hello and PAINT us a painting. They gave her a brush with paint on it, she took it in her trunk and she painted a canvas that was on an easel that was within her trunk’s reach. UNREAL. I could not believe my eyes.
Next up, we rode around in the golf cart to see the grounds and some of the new construction going on, which is amazing and exciting and ended up at the Penguin House. We were invited to feed the penguins. Their trainer told us how their loud screams mean they are ready to mate, how to feed them tiny fish and to watch out because they peck at you. They were SO CUTE. Oh my goodness I wanted to take one home. I was drawn to one named Pepper who was a youngster learning how to eat and I succeeded in getting those fish into her beak! She did peck at me as she was learning to eat but it didn’t hurt. I just loved her.
We continued onward and stopped to brush the goats. They were so zen. Felt like therapy dogs, but goats. We then made our way to the giraffes where we got to feed them greens and branches. They were so sweet and gentle.
We made our way around the grounds and stopped for photos by the gorgeous bar on the water (a bar at a zoo? On the water? Yes please and thank you). We got to see the tigers, their cubs, the monkeys, the gorgeous structures built for the animals to roam on, play on, walk along and enjoy.
We had a delicious gourmet lunch, shockingly good for a zoo, along with a refreshing cocktail and spent more time walking around and enjoying the perfect weather and scenery.
What a wonderful day. I’m forever grateful for a friend who took great care of us ensuring we had a memorable experience and for a zoo in the town I live in that I know brings so much joy to animals, their staff and the community. If you haven’t been to the Jacksonville Zoo yet, trust me when I tell you no matter what age you are, you will love it.