I went to the zoo and all I got was this oversized peacock feather body suit - do you like it?

We took Charlie to the Lufkin zoo yesterday.

This is what I thought zoos were like: Big. Smelly. You park far and walk. There's dirt and odd colored water in the walkways. There's trash. There's people selling snacks all over the place. Lots of people crowd into one spot to see an animal shake its tail. It smells. Really bad. Like poop and body odor. And then you get a toy at the end because you feel like you've been rescued.

We will call it Katie's Rescue Maze where you also happen to see animals if you're lucky.

I don't know why this is my mental picture of zoos. Maybe in the movies this is what zoos look like, except for the movie We Bought A Zoo. That zoo looks cool.

The Lufkin zoo was more like the cool 'We Bought A Zoo' Zoo than Katie's Rescue Maze.

Here's why: We parked right in front of the entrance LEGALLY AND WERE NOT TOWED!! It was not crowded. There were just enough people there that all of the kids were cute rather than annoying (strength in numbers). It was like strolling on a sidewalk in a park or something. There were PICNIC TABLES everywhere. We could have had a picnic next to a rhinoceros or a giraffe. Instead of a bird waiting around for your left over sandwich, there's a Rhinoceros waiting around for your left over sandwich. The animals are right next to the path. Five feet from a crocodile close. I didn't know bald eagles were so big... Is it looking at my baby close. There are peacocks everywhere. In the walkway, in the trees, in the tortoise cage, sitting on top of a crocodile. Like instead of a zoo, it could be called The Peacock Place, or The Peacock Palace, or The Peacock Pit Stop. At the end of the zoo, you think peacocks are just like squirrels. Because they are everywhere. And once you're sick of the zoo, like an hour in, you're done. Because its small and you don't have to walk miles to see each animal, only a few feet.

The only part of the zoo that smelled like what I expect the Rescue Maze smells like was probably the inside area where they keep small animals and where the sloths have an indoor viewing area. I think it's because the sloths have a little baby and rubbed poop all over their window so humans wouldn't get too close, which totally demonstrates how awesome sloths are. The mama sloth moved more than I've ever seen a sloth move just so we wouldn't be able to see her baby. I feel you, mama sloth. You go gurl.

So what I'm saying is, I have seen more sloths in my lifetime than I realized, peacocks are less special now and I liked this zoo. You should go.