Alamogordo is a small town, about an hour away from us, but we are very grateful for it because for some reason, it has more family-centered things to do and see than Las Cruces!! One of our favorite places to go there is the Alameda Zoo and we hadn't been for almost 3 years. It is a very well-kept, small zoo, but they are always adding new things and renovating. Plus, it only cost our entire family $9 to get in - and that included Colton as an adult since he is 12 now!
The first stop is always at the duck and swan pond. There are two black swans and a bunch of different ducks there, waiting to get fed from the twenty-five cent gumball machines that sell their food.
In the next pen, there were some geese eating their breakfast and these two very fat squirrels kept running in and sneaking a bite, even though the geese would strike at them and bite them! It was fun to watch!
One new exhibit since we had been there last, was the American Alligator. He climbed right out of the water as we approached:
Cady and I, of course loved the owls! We were hoping to get a better shot of this one's pretty face, but it was too busy eating something:
They have two beautiful bald eagles:
The large mountain lion was getting a nap in the sun:
He awoke and looked up at us one time and then put his paws over his eyes and fell back asleep:
The smaller one was awake and also enjoying the sun:
They also had added a new, walk-through aviary:
A brightly colored duck:
And a Chinese pheasant were two of our favorites in the aviary:
The Capuchin monkeys are always fun to watch! This one climbed all the way to the top of his enclosure but kept his eyes on us the entire time:
A funny llama who seemed more curious about us than we were about it:
One of the highlights was seeing the baby kangaroo! The kangaroos always are fascinating to see there, anyways, because you don't see them at many zoos, but the joey made it extra special!!
It really looked like it moved its arm as if to wave to us!
Another pretty bird:
They have these statues there that the kids have had their pictures taken on for as long as I can remember!! Here is Cady on the buffalo and the lion:
Colton on the buffalo:
A shedding snake:
A resting doe:
We had a good time there seeing all the animals!
After walking through the zoo, it was off to the playground to let Cady play for a bit.
After the zoo, Colin took us to lunch at the Pizza Mill, a local favorite for pizza and sandwiches. It was very yummy! Then, after a quick stop to look at their local western wear store (where Colton bought a new cap with birthday money and Cady bought a stuffed pic with tooth fairy money), we went to Alameda Park to visit the little train station. Colin and I had realized about a week earlier that Cady had never ridden that little train and we wanted her to have the chance before she got any older. Colton had ridden it on a preschool graduation trip that we accompanied him on.
They have a few different engines. This is the one that was running that day:
I didn't ride, as I prefer to be on the sidelines taking pictures, but Colin rode with them and they sat at the very back of the train:
Its at least a 15 minute ride around the entire park and they had fun!
It was a great day! To make things even better, on the way home, we saw oryx!! Not just one or two, but a huge herd of 23! We used to see them almost every trip to White Sands or Alamogordo and now they are hard to find. After I spied these, close to the road, Colin turned around so we could watch them and I could get pictures.
That's a baby in the back of this one:
What an amazing day we had!!
