Albuquerque BioPark

The children (especially Emily) have been asking when we can go to a zoo again and we finally got it done. We choose to stay in Albuquerque an extra day since they have a large zoo that is also connected to a botanic garden and aquarium. The combo tickets included all 3 plus unlimited train rides to different stops. 

     Unfortunately, the day was supposed to be cold and blustery but we pulled out the winter clothes and prepared for the worst. As long as the sun was shining and there was no wind it was almost comfortable. Our Montana friends would call it a "dry cold" 😉. The children did fantastic in the less then ideal conditions. My pictures are a bit out of order since some are from my camera and some from my phone. Also, we did part of the zoo, then the aquarium and gardens, then back to the zoo.

Watching fish and stingrays is so hypnotizing.

Lots of coral.

Lobsters.......or something similar.

The seahorses were so fat!

The garden eels just bobbed around.

Pinecone hugger 😍.

The Leaf-cutter Ants had a colony but they traveled over a rope into another room to retrieve leaves. Eldon was fascinated with it! They also went through tubes and the wall.

The lush, humid Mediterranean Garden. Right next to it was the dry, dessert garden!

Michael loved the roses.

 

Riding the train was a nice break from all the walking.

Mr. Polar Bear just hanging out and enjoying the cool weather.

    

The gorilla just sat and stared at us. I totally expected him to wave at us!

The male orangutan was a hairy beast!

A wombat! We've never seen one before so this was cool.

      This zoo also had koalas and Tasmania devils, 2 other species we've never seen before so we were looking forward to that. Sadly, both were off the exhibit.

The seals were swimming around, much to our delight.

You can't see him well, but the baby elephant was adorable. I say baby but he weighs 700 pounds!

The aquium pictures didn't turn out well but we spent a lot of time there! They even had sharks!

The fantasy garden was Makayla's favorite. We went through a rabbit hole and "shrunk" to insect size. We went inside a pumpkin and under tree roots, ect. Super cool!

There was a huge model train but it doesn't run on Tuesdays.

A bridge the model train went over.

Due to the cold weather only a few butterflies were in the butterfly house.

The Japanese Gardens were so peaceful!

The rose garden still had lots of blooms!

The lioness taking her afternoon nap.

     To our surprise, the children liked the botanic gardens as much as the zoo. Around 4 the wind picked up and it got cloudy. We decided to pack it up and went to Wendy's for a hot meal.