We had no idea what to expect on our trip into Indianapolis. Harper's big bucket list item this year was to go to a zoo, so we decided this was as good a chance as any. We made it into the city on a perfect zoo day - sunny, beautiful weather.
To get into the zoo these days you have to book a reserved entry time with your ticket, as they only let a certain number of people in throughout the day. Even with these restrictions, the Indy Zoo was still very busy. We really enjoyed the experience and saw some amazing creatures. I finally saw a sloth! It literally laid in its hammock and barely lifted an arm the entire time we were watching it, but it was still so much fun to see. There was also a really fascinating underwater tunnel where you can watch the dolphins swim above.
The most amazing animals we observed were definitely the orangutans. The Indy Zoo is highly credited for their unique orangutan exhibit which allows the great apes to climb out of the enclosure up a series of tall towers and walk across a rope highway that is directly above the person walkways, no nets or anything underneath. This just blew our minds - if the orangutans fell from here they would fall directly into the pathway of the zoo-goers. We did some research and found out that apparently orangutans are so dextrous that walking this set of high-hanging ropes would be the same as one of us walking down a sidewalk. Nevertheless, it was really awesome to see. They were also much larger than we imagined them to be. One large, hairy male in particular was very interested in the kids. He grabbed a blanket from his enclosure, spread it out by his window (as if he was going to have a picnic), smoothed out the wrinkles, and sat down to observe us. Pretty cool.
Inside the Lorikeet Aviary we were able to view the birds up close and even had a few land on us to say hello.
The reptile house was a huge hit for our group - Stuart just absolutely loves turtles and was thrilled to see a dessert tortoise, radiated tortoise and leopard tortoise for the first time.
The giraffes were amazing, and the flamingos were actually really entertaining to watch too. Elephants, so big and grand, are always impressive to see. Harper found a social little meerkat that enjoyed attention through his glass enclosure. The seals were loving the sunshine as much as we were. All-in-all it was a wonderful day at the zoo!
We didn't think a trip into Indianapolis would be complete without driving by the Colt's stadium (Lucas Oil Stadium) and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.
The size of the city and sheer number of people really left an impression on the kids. At the end of the day we all agreed that we felt very thankful we can call Montana home!
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