The train ride was great because it gave us a chance to see the whole zoo without having to walk it. The temperature was in the 90's with about the same level of humidity, so not having to do all that much walking was really, really nice. We walked through the River's Edge part, which contained the elephants, cheetahs, hippos and other African animals.
By far the best part was the hippos, as shown below. The exhibit lets you get right up to them and view them through huge panes of glass. We could see them both above and below the water, which was really, really cool. Fiona was absolutely fascinated by them, and to be honest, so was I. I think there were about six hippos in the enclosure along with a ton of fish, which we got to watch eating off the hippos backs when the hippos were under water!
Of course being the big two year old, Fiona insisted she had to push the stroller for part of the time!
Really cool tree trunk tunnel (fake, I think) that Fiona had fun going through.
And finally, game time. We were fortunate to be sitting up under the awnings, so it wasn't quite as hot as it could have been if we'd been in the full sun. Fiona enjoyed being there for a short while, but it was hard for her to see and she just wanted to move around. So, she and I went down to the food area and got some ice water which the Red Cross stations were giving out for free, thank goodness! We all left around the seventh inning, but not before Fiona got to build a Busch Stadium bear and get her own pink Cardinals hat. All in all it was a wonderful way to spend some quality family time together!
Below is a short video of one of the elephants cooling itself off. We kept hoping it would spray us!
The beautiful aquarium cake made by Sarah Taylor (
