Santa Ana - Who Knew?

Mention the city Santa Ana and my first thoughts go to illegal aliens and COPS filming on location. From what I had seen driving through it, it was dirty and not somewhere worth stopping at, unless of course I felt like getting robbed that day, perhaps by this lovely Santa Ana resident: So when my sister suggested we take the kids to the Santa Ana Zoo, I thought she was joking. Given the cheap admission and good weather, I was willing to give it a shot - as in a "try", not an actual "shooting". I am so glad we went! I was pleasently surprised and how clean and well-kept the grounds were. There are tons of tall trees and plants making it nice and shady, and unlike the LA or San Diego Zoos, the grouod is level so you don't feel like you're hauling a stroller and all your gear up Mt. Everest. You almost forget that the zoo is backed up to the I-5. Almost. If you're looking for exotic animals like lions or giraffes, this is not the zoo for you. They had Macaws, a bald eagle, ant eater, porcupine, a camel, llamas, TONS of monkeys and some farm animals. For my kids, the animals were kind of secondary to running around touching and climbing on everything, so having the big "cool" animals was not that important. Given the age of my kids, they have the attention span of a gnat and are more interested in the animal poop anyway, so for us it was perfect. There was a shack set up with all kinds of repleca fossils, animal skulls and displays to touch and look at. Natalie was engrossed with the animal sounds table. Each animal pictured had a button that made appropriate sounds for that animal. Kelle thought she looked like a DJ spinning on the turn table keeping the "zoo ambiance" pumping through the shack. In the back there was an explorer room set up with safari gear to try on. The kids loved it!



There were random animal statues for the kids to climb on and even a stranded jeep. They had a train that goes around the zoo which Ev was DYING to go on even before we got to the zoo.

It was a great little ride and Ev was smart enough to pick the box car with a roof on it = shade = happy mommy :)

Near the enterance/exit there was a park set up for the kids to play on and lots of park benches under a large awning perfect for eating lunch while watching your kiddos play on the jungle gym. We visited the gift shop. Natalie helped herself to one of everything.

Ev picked out a very cool train. The kids were pooped after 3 hours of non-stop action.

What a great day. We will definately go again next year!