About a year ago Lee became absolutely obsessed with Red Pandas. I think it started with You Tube videos, but whatever the reason he talks about Red Pandas all the time and is constantly sending me videos of them.
So because I try to be a good wife I started looking for a zoo where we could see one in person and it turned out the Santa Barbara Zoo has one. We had also heard about this zoo from our friend Georgia so it was on our list and once the 100 degree weather broke we headed out to see the zoo.
I really wanted to get there right when they opened on Sunday and I am so glad we did. Not only were all of the animals very activem, but we also got to see quite a lot of them being fed which led to increased enjoyment. It’s a smaller zoo but absolutely beautiful and they had their Halloween displays up which was an extra treat.
Our first stop was the Red Panda and wow was that great. It was being fed and was super active and man are they super cute. I think Lee could have stayed there all day but eventually I got him to move on.
They really make the most of the space that they have and the zoo has a large events field and even a daycare on the premises which is pretty neat. The signage is good as well with lots of interesting kid friendly facts.
Lee’s second favorite stop was the gorillas. He spent a ton of time there but as the sign above says it was a little smelly and I wandered off to look at the California condors. This was the closest I have seen them and their sheer size is really impressive. I couldn’t get any good pictures of them but I watched them for a long time.
The two disappointing areas were the poor lions who had a relatively small space and the Australian walkabout. It’s a neat idea getting to walk inside the kangaroo pen but they just laid there and it was pretty boring.
The giraffe area was VERY nice and they even had a feeding opportunity for kids for an additional cost.
There were lots of really good small areas, like the turtles and the penguins, It only takes a couple of hours to go through the park but it was fun because we got to see so many animals eating.
My absolute favorite though was the otters. They had a large play area with a platform that was high on one side and then a glassed in swimming area. I stayed there for a long time because they were so fun to watch.
We made a stop at the gift store (buying some Red Panda tote bags of course) and then headed home. It was a lovely drive and a great walk and I am really glad we came. Can’t stress enough though it’s worth getting there right when they open because that really added to the fun.
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