The Chattanooga Zoo

Where else can you enter a goat pen, sit on the goats, and yank their horns? Tobias, age 20 months, did just that today, under the watchful eye of his father, and escaped unscathed. He did holler out in fright when the aforementioned goat stood up, but his daddy yanked him off before any damage occurred.

While the zoo is small, it entertained our kids for a full two hours. We played with Hank, the chimpanzee, making faces for him to imitate. We howled at the coyote. We spied three red pandas playing in their playground or sleeping. We, of course, sat on the goats. A zoo employee appeared from a barn door shortly after this incident and simply sat in our midst. We hurried along out of there.

A sign outside the petting area identifies one of the animals as a type of sheep, not a goat. "I am not a goat," it says, with a picture of the Mouflan Sheep. As we entered directly behind another couple, the man said to his wife, "Man, that's a big goat!" I thought, "Man, you should learn to appreciate the signs!" Although, come to think of it, the coyote sign says, "Can you hear me know?" Really. K-N-O-W. Even my 5-year-old knows the difference. The same man tried to excite his kid to move along by saying, "Hey, let's go see the tigers!" in the most excited voice he could muster. I don't think there are any tigers. Leopard, yes... tiger, no. And a train called Cougar Express.

We ended the day at the Carousel, for a dollar per person over the age of 2, and we watched Mrs. Clara unsuccessfully attempt to train two other personnel in the use of the "Under 2" discount on the cash register. The organ music is piped in via stereo, but the kids loved it none-the-less. We were able to exit straight out of the carousel without going through the gift shop, believe it or not! (But we did have to enter through the gift shop!)

We bought a membership because we live so close, and this will enable us to visit for short periods all year long without feeling like we have to stay until the tears run dry to get our money's worth.

But I think our video of Tobias riding a goat is worth all the money we have.