#2- ZooLights (Washington Park Zoo)

 

Praise the Lord!  That is all I have to say.  We hemmed and hawed over a date to go up to the zoo; trying to balance weather, work schedules and avoiding long lines after schools were out for vacation...and we scored a wonderful night.  Granted it was quite cold, but what do you expect in December?  We had no line to get into the zoo, no line at the train, and lots of time to walk around the zoo admiring lights without any rain at all!!  That all adds up to one very enjoyable evening and one big shout-out to The Man Upstairs for providing a beautiful night.  It was the perfect evening for us to enjoy each other's company and the hard work of many people who must have spent hours putting up lights.

I must admit that one of my first thoughts was that of consumerism America...it must really be financially valuable to the Washington Park Zoo to spend thousands on man hours putting up lights and manning the zoo, as well as the electric bill that they must pay with so many lights.  But I sure am thankful to those people.  It was absolutely beautiful!  I cannot pick a favorite light display because there were so many wonderful sights.  The creativity and artistry in putting up the lights and designing the movements was wonderful.  I am out of awestruck vocabulary.


We had an evening of live music, walking around admiring the artwork done in lights, sipping hot chocolate (to warm up!), and getting a little freaked out by dark animal exhibits of huge fish and snakes.  We did not get to see the new baby elephant (less than a month old), but the hours to see her are limited anyway.  Really Zoo Lights is about the lights, not about the animals, since most of them are tucked away sleeping.  But the zoo is no where near asleep; with families galore and people of all ages strolling along, trying to stay warm and taking in the many displays.

I probably should have started out by mentioning that I love Christmas lights to begin with.  One of my favorite memories as a kid was when we would all pile in the car together wrapped in blankets (the heater in our old Volkswagon Vanagon wasn't the best) to go look at Christmas lights around town.  Mom would give us each a small container of peanut M&Ms to munch on while we were driving around.  Hence, it is no surprise that before we boarded the train at Zoo Lights I stopped at a vending machine and picked up some M&Ms to enjoy as we rode the train around the zoo looking at Christmas lights.  Zoo Lights just intensifies the Christmas light experience to a new level.  I loved the 3D animal displays, the beautiful trees, some literally dripping in lights, and the overall atmosphere of Christmas in a very unique setting.  It was a wonderful experience and I would highly recommend it, although I hear we were pretty lucky because the parking, line into the zoo, line to get on the train, etc, can get incredibly long and hectic.  Still, if you like Christmas lights, it may be worth the effort.

By the way, in case you were wondering, we did find all 6 of the hidden ladybugs and all I have to say is you really do have to walk the whole thing if you want to find them.