Greenville Zoo

Last weekend we visited the Greenville Zoo.  We are enjoying our AZA pass that gets us into many zoos for free. We took my Mother along and had a wonderful day. This is a small zoo with only 14 acres. It met my qualifications for being a "true" zoo by having two giraffes. I just don't think it is a zoo without a giraffe. LOL
 

I thought this zoo was laid out in a nice, walkable loop. The cages were nice but really small. My nature loving oldest son (Timothy) was pleased to see that many of the animals had enrichment toys in their cages. (He works at our nature center and spends a lot of time handing out enrichment toys to the resident animals). Most of the animals seemed content. They were either sleeping or playing.

The kids really loved the statues along the path, and there were lots of shaded areas to get out of the heat (if you were visiting in warmer months).

There was also a free park and playground right outside of the zoo. It was a really cool playground with unique climbing structures and riding toys. Our kids loved the skateboard play structure (seen in the final photo) that zipped the kids back and forth while they balanced on a skateboard. They were happy to stand in line to go on it.

The cons of this zoo was that the elephant seemed very agitated. I have never seen such an upset elephant! We passed her twice over the two hours, and she was distressed both times. I am not sure what that was about, but Timothy said she was showing signs of extreme boredom or anxiety. She did have one of the smallest cages I have ever seen for an elephant. Also, the gift shop had almost nothing under $6 worth looking at.
 
Update ~ Thank you for all of your prayers during my colonoscopy! It was much easier than expected, and the doctor found everything to be healthy and normal! I asked for only a child's dose of sedation since that is the part I most feared. Having given birth without medications, this was a piece of cake!

Blessings, Dawn