Good Day Zoo Atlanta

My sister Candace is a self-proclaimed animal enthusiast. And when she was only a toddler, she declared she wanted to be a veterinarian. "Oh yeah," came our response, "spell it." (LOL) While her career aspirations have changed—she's best friends with the family dog and no longer eats meat because in her words, "the animals don't deserve to die."

So of all the major Atlanta attractions, Zoo Atlanta was at the top of her list, which is actually a little strange since technically the animals are in captivity...but it is all in the name of conservation.

Good Day Zoo Atlanta

Still, I was happy to take her to the zoo and spend some one-on-one sister time bonding over animals. Plus, it would be a first for the both of us, and we would be experiencing it together.

Weather

We got up on a Thursday morning and by the time we left the house it was already 80 something degrees.

We left a little later because I totally went sister-mom on her and made her change her bottoms twice. While we were at the zoo the temperature climbed into the 90s but we were prepared with our water bottle.

Traffic

I thought I would show Candace my city smarts by avoiding lunchtime traffic and giving her the "downtown experience" by taking MARTA to the zoo. We made the three minute walk from home to the bus stop nearby, and took the bus to the Lindbergh transit station.

What I didn't account for was MARTA failing to live up to the rapid portion of its name (Metropolitan Atlanta Rapid Transit Authority). The train moved extremely slow, and stopped anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes at every stop. Several airport-bound passengers got off at different stops, fearing they would be late to the airport. And no one bothered to update us as to what was causing the delay.

The zoo is only 11 miles away from where I live currently. But it took us 2 hours to get to there, which included changing trains at 5-Points station

and then waiting for a shared ride service to pick us up and take us the 1.4 miles from King-Memorial station to Grant Park where the zoo is located. So much for beating traffic!

Anchors

When we finally arrived at the zoo, the ticket line was short. I had no issue using my Atlanta CityPass or paying Candace's admission.

Upon entry, the first thing we saw were the flamingos.

After gazing at them, we took out our map to make sure we had a plan to get to all the must-see animals on our list.

Breaking News

I almost lost my life at the interactive living treehouse bird exhibit. As we walked in a bird zoomed right in front of me. We almost touched! And it was so unexpected, I nearly had a heart attack. Once I got over the initial shock of my bird encounter, I was able to marvel at the beauty of the various bird species on display.