Some of my earliest memories are trips to the zoo with my dad. We’d go to visit my grandmother in Poplar Bluff, MO two or three times a year and we would always stop at the St. Louis zoo on the way south. We’d spend a couple of hours walking around watching the bears, seeing the lions, and connecting with one another. Most times we’d spring for a trip around the zoo on the little train and we’d enjoy seen backstage at the zoo.
When I got a little older, we got into the habit of going to the zoo on New Year’s Day and spending the day walking around and enjoying the animals. Some years it was almost spring like and the weather would be warm and other years it was a subzero freeze out, but regardless of the weather we always enjoyed seeing the critters and spending time together.
Zoos continued to play an important part in my life even as I grew older and my first official date with my soon to be husband was when I kidnapped him and took him to the zoo. We drove from Jacksonville, IL down to St. Louis and spent the day wandering around the zoo and watching the animals. One of my favorite parts, as it always is, was checking out the aviary at the zoo that was built for for the 1904 World’s Fair. We wandered through the paths that I’d walked as a child and I found myself falling in love.
Marriage and kids soon followed and zoos continued to be a part of my life. My parents took Sean and Caitlin to the Madison Zoo and they got to explore the same wonderful small zoo that I’d explored as a child. Before my parents moved from Chicagoland to western IL, we also spent a few New Year’s wandering around the zoos with the kids. The same magick was there only now I was enjoying the zoo with both my parents and my kids.Living in the Chicago Burbs, we’ve only visited the St. Louis Zoo a few times, but I remember one memorable trip when Sean, Caitlin, and I went to St. Louis and Caitlin and I went to the zoo in what seemed like a raging typhoon. The rain was coming down harder than I could ever remember it and we were walking around the zoo trying to see the animals. We ended up lost in the River’s Edge exhibit getting soaked to the skin. Although we didn’t see many animals that day, but we enjoyed some shared camaraderie and had a great story to tell when we got home.
The last few years, we’ve headed downtown sometime in December to enjoy the Zoo Lights program at Lincoln Park Zoo. There is something magickal about being at the zoo after dark and wandering around and listening to the carols and watching the critters cavort in the snow. Our sojourn to Zoo Lights is our modern day solstice celebration as we celebrate the shortest day of the year and give thanks that the days will soon be getting longer.The kids and I headed to Lincoln Park Zoo today and enjoyed a beautiful day wandering around enjoying the sites and sounds and watching other families enjoy the zoo. Caitlin, my little wanna be zoologist, 
enchanted all the animals and watched enthralled as the pumas and birds of prey put on a show that seemed to be just for her. It was also wonderful to see all the other families introducing their young children to the zoo.
enchanted all the animals and watched enthralled as the pumas and birds of prey put on a show that seemed to be just for her. It was also wonderful to see all the other families introducing their young children to the zoo. I felt total bliss sitting at the zoo today and knowing that somewhere out there, my dad was smiling because the love of zoos, families, and animals was being passed on to one more generation.
Cairn by Cairn 