Micke Grove Zoo

On Memorial Day this year, we decided to take an adventure out to Micke Grove Zoo, in Lodi, for Kaitlyn's first zoo trip. Micke Grove Park itself has been around for many years, and is a 258 acre area with a Japanese Garden, an amusement park called Fun Town, an historical museum, lots of picnic areas, and of course the zoo. I had never heard of this gem of a park until this month. Once I heard about this park and zoo, I kept hearing about it and seeing the name Micke Grove plastered everywhere. I took it as a sign that we should take Kaitlyn there.

It only took us about 35 minutes to get to the zoo from our house, and Kaitlyn took a nap almost the whole way. While we waited in the parking lot for her to wake up, we listened to monkeys "whooping" from a nearby cage. Once Kaitlyn woke up a short time later, we headed into the zoo to our first stop at the pool with the California Sea Lion who was doing tricks for his breakfast of fish. Kaitlyn enjoyed watching him twirl in the water.

Then we went to see the Bald Eagles, monkeys, turtles and water fowl. Taking a turn around some bamboo, we went to see more large birds and some lemurs. Down the way, we came to an aviary with numerous types of birds swimming at the bottom of a small waterfall. Kaitlyn seemed to like watching the birds swimming, but really liked the wooden railing keeping her out of the water. We left the aviary to see the rest of the animals. We saw more lemurs and turtles from Madagascar, hissing cockroaches (yuck!) and lizards. We headed on down to see the endangered snow leopard, many more birds, and another endangered animal, the Chinese Alligator. While stopping to look at the birds, one in particular caught Kaitlyn's eye. He kept flying back and forth in his cage, and she kept watching him. Watching his flight path was like watching a tennis match.

On our way out of the zoo, we saw some tiny monkeys who were very active. For a while Kaitlyn liked watching them jump around, but then found the ever-fun wooden railing that kept her away from the animals. At that point, we had seen all the animals in the zoo, so we headed out to the car for a snack. Kaitlyn nibbled on some Cheerios then we headed to the Japanese Garden. There were some small ponds where few koi fish swimmed, and there were lots of paths that led you through all different types of plants. It was very quiet and serene. Back to the car for a quick lunch then a walk through the rest of the park. We saw the rose garden and Fun Town, where Kaitlyn and I took a silly picture.

After about two and a half hours, we decided to pack it up and head home. Kaitlyn napped all the way home, then we played until it was bed time. We all had a great time on our holiday, and got to add another to Kaitlyn's Firsts. Micke Grove was a great "starter zoo" for Kaitlyn, preparing her for her big trip to the Sacramento Zoo this Friday with her friends at daycare.