Camping at the Denver Zoo ~

We had a sleepover at the Denver Zoo with our Girl Scout Troop on Saturday, September 7th!  Our cookie sales paid for the trip!  Be warned...this blog is FILLED with photos!  :)  We arrived at 5:30 and we were happily greeted by this peacock showing off for us!  We grabbed all our gear and headed to our tents, which were set up in the Primate Panorama...

We were introduced to our guides and rules and the tour were discussed...thats our guide in the center with the dark hair, her nickname was JK.

 

We were assigned the Red Tent and the Purple Tent.

 

Then it was time to head off to dinner.  There was a buffet set up with hamburgers, hot dogs, beans, salad, chips, lemonade and ice water.  The drinks were very refreshing, since it was almost 100 degrees at the zoo.

 

Then we were off to explore the zoo and meet some of the animals.

This is the same little guy we got to meet at the library last month...only this time the kids got to pet him.

We toured a bunch of the zoo while it was dark(with night vision goggles)...we visited the lion and he groaned and mumbled for us (no loud roar though), we spied on the bear while he was sleeping, we saw the mountain goats watching us, and we also laughed at the seals while they were trying to push each other off of the rocks vying for the best spot to sleep.  We also learned some cool things about the monkeys in this room with the giant rug.  Then it was off to the campfire for s'mores!

Afterwords, we toured more of the zoo, but as 10:30 neared, we headed back to our tents for bedtime.

Jordyn slept in the Purple tent, and i slept in the Red tent.

Look how cute Oriana is snoozing in this photo...she is tightly clinging on to her name badge to make sure she doesn't lose it.

The next morning the zoo provided breakfast for us...there was a choice of cereal, fruit and breakfast burritos.  After all that late night walking around the girls were quite hungry, as was i, so we all pigged out!

Then it was off to tour more of the zoo with our JK.  She was incredibly knowledgeable about all of the animals, so we really enjoyed her stories.

We enjoyed the elephant exhibit, and of course the giraffes...but meeting Bert, was probably our favorite part of the trip...

Bert is a 57 year old hippo, and this is his caretaker, Dave.  Bert is the second oldest hippo in the United States. (the oldest hippo is 58 and lives in Ohio).  The oldest hippo on record was 61, so it would be exciting if Bert could top that record.

Bert was getting his morning breakfast, some vitamins, and other goodies, while Dave taught us all about hippos.  Bert sat at the edge of the pool like this for about 20 minutes while we learned all about hippos, and he was so sweet.  Every once in a while he would open his mouth hoping for more treats. 

At the end of the tour, all the girls were given a REALLY COOL zoo camping patch (even the troop leaders got one!  I cant wait to make my own cool vest to wear to start sporting all my Girl Scout patches too :)  Then we were able to tour the rest of the park ourselves, so we started off at the Lorikeet Center to feed the birds...

 

Once we were good and sticky, we went over to the carousel for a ride (free passes came with the overnight adventure).  Some of the girls wanted to ride the train, so Melody purchased tickets for all of us to ride the train, thanks Melody!  It was nice to sit and relax for a while after all that walking around.

 

There was soooo much to see, and sadly we didnt see it all, but we did have a great time!  As it was getting late, and the kids were all getting hungry, we went and had lunch and then stopped at the gift shop to spend any money we had left!  Here they all are with their spoils from the gift shop :)

What a great time we all had!  Camping at the zoo was a blast and something im sure the girls wont soon forget!