Last week we gathered our strength and made a reservation to Como Zoo for our first family outing since Covid-19. Our family has been home since March of 2020 as my husband was fortunate enough to work from home, and I already resigned from my job the previous year to stay home full time with our three kids. Who knew I would become more than “just” a mom to our kids during distant learning! I will save that for another post. So anyway, back to the Zoo!
We made our planning trip to Como Zoo in a swift decision the night before. We made our reservation HERE as they are currently allowing 250 people at a time. We reserved to visit the Zoo right as they opened to beat the traffic, but to our surprise, even with limited people and reservations, there were many families there at the same time as us.
Our trip had some hiccups with the Zoo’s one-way walking path Safety Plan policy. As visitors, we could not go backward and exit the building. Not having access to exit the zoo immediately was complex because our autistic son started to have difficulty. So his dad had to go through the whole Zoo before he could exit the building and into the parking lot with him. I think this experience is a mental note to myself! Call and ask the Zoo how families with children and adults with disabilities can easily and quickly exit the premises WITHOUT having to go through all the exhibits.
Our younger two kids and I stayed behind and visited all the animal exhibits.
I have never seen a giraffe in this proximity and such a small space before. But the kids got an up-close view of their life! I think they were keeping them indoors as it was still chilly out in our Minnesota weather.
I almost ran off and left our daughter here. None of the kids were scared of this anaconda, just all the parents that walked by it!
We exited the building to music playing outside. Being an African child of mine, our daughter started dancing and busting out some moves. Here is a photo from a video I took of her dancing :). We danced until we arrived at our car, where we met up with my husband and our oldest son. Although my husband left to take care of our son, we all had a good experience visiting the zoo as a family.
We will be back again. We hope Como Park also reopens soon!
Where was your family’s first post-Covid-19 restrictions outing?