Yesterday I took the day off so Mer and I could celebrate our anniversary together (our fifteenth anniversary was on Thursday). I decided to take Mer to the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo – it was a nice day, and even if it cleared up and got too hot, there are exhibits that are inside, and the park system does a pretty good job of making sure there are shady areas around.

I had been to the zoo last January as part of my J-term class on hiking Northeast Ohio parks. Since the zoo is part of the park system, my co-leader and I decided it was a good hike for what looked as if it might be a rainy day. It cleared up, and we had a great time. When I got home, Mer had mentioned she had not been to the Cleveland Zoo in many years, so it seemed like a good destination for a mellow anniversary day.

It was still party cloudy when we got there, so I made the fateful (for Mer) decision to forgo sunscreen. Later, the clouds cleared up, and Mer ended up with mild burns on her shoulders; oddly, I got away with it, and I usually burn quickly. Even when the sun came out, we were able to manage the hot part of the day by taking it easy and seeking shade where we could.

We started the tour by briefly seeing the elephants, but then spending quite a bit of time in the Australia exhibit. There was a small aviary filled with colorful birds called Lorikeets. For a dollar, you could buy a small cup of nectar and feed the birds. I wanted Mer to try it, and she succeeded wildly. A Lorikeet climbed onto her hand and sucked down the nectar. Mer was a bit nervous having a bird holding on to her by its clawed feet, but it did not hurt her, and she was pretty pleased with the experience. That was worth the whole admission, right there.

We continued on in “Australia,” seeing koalas (they do not move much), kangaroos, dingos, and more. The Australia section is really well done, with a park-like feel and spacious habitats for the animals. There is even a fake tree you can climb into and slide down a slide shaped like a snake (we passed on that because it was mobbed). There was a small river, and a train that ran around the entire perimeter. It was probably the best part of the park, and the rest of the park was pretty good.

We headed up the hill along the “Deckwalk,” an elevated boardwalk that meanders through the trees to the upper exhibits (cats and primates). The Deckwalk had been closed in winter, so it was new to me, and it was very peaceful back in the trees. We enjoyed the primate and cat and aquatic building, and afterwards we stopped in a cafe for lunch on the deck (in the shade, though).

We made our way back down the hill to turn around and go back up it to get to the Arctic Exhibit, with wolves and polar bears and seals. It always takes me aback to see how huge polar bears are. The wolf habitat was huge and well wooded, and had good visitor vantage points.

We finished our tour by going through the savanna section of the zoo, seeing lions and giraffes and rhinos and other animals. We managed to see the entire zoo in about six hours, including lunch. It was a fine day and a good break from the work week.

We headed home, where we had supper, but then I took Mer up to Hudson to Cold Stone Creamery for ice cream. We happened to catch the last couple of songs of a steel drum band that was playing on the new square right outside Cold Stone, so we got to eat ice cream and listen to Caribbean sounds and enjoy a pretty evening.