Howdy! This past week, I enjoyed a wonderful day trip to the Cleveland Zoo and had a ball. Not only were a lot of the animals very active, but the whole zoo was decorated for their spectacular Asian Lantern Festival. After talking about it for years, my family finally went last year and it was awe inspiring. I assumed that a lot of the decorations and displays would be reused and I was dead wrong. Everything about this Festival was different and it is so cool to me that you will never experience the same Asian Lantern Festival twice! Take a look at some pics and be sure to follow me on TikTok for videos from this adventure:

^^^ Look at that lil face! ❤

The Cleveland Zoo is an amazing staple in my neck of the woods and is a joy to visit. It’s a sprawling, beautiful park that boasts six different areas and a seventh soon when their rain forest is done being remodeled. There is the African Savanna, Wilderness Trek, Australian Adventure, African Elephant Crossing, Waterfowl Lake, and a section of Primates, Cats, and Aquatics. Every exhibit is a sight to see and there were plenty that I simply couldn’t tear myself away from!

While the entire Cleveland Zoo outing was fabulous fun, there were some definite highlights. My top favorite has got to be in the Australian Adventure at the Kangaroo exhibit. I was able to see a tiny baby Joey outside of its mom’s pouch and that was something I had never seen before. I joked that I didn’t realize they had legs because you usually only see the top half of them lol! It was SO incredibly cute and I could have watched the mama/Joey duo all day. Speaking of babies, the Koala at the zoo recently had a little one and you could just make it out while they relaxed in their tree. The Australian Adventure was bursting with new babies and that was really cool to see.

Bear Hollow was also an exciting place to visit as the bears were all up and moving. We saw them snacking, one climbed to a high up net in the exhibit and was hanging out there, and the Grizzly Bears were play fighting in the water. One of them totally bitch slapped the other! And, last but not least, I absolutely adored being able to feed the giraffes some romaine lettuce (Just like my bunnies!). So much so, that I did it twice! Hey, when at the Cleveland Zoo amiright? 😀

Sans the decor of the Asian Lantern Festival, the Cleveland Zoo is a very scenic park. However, it transforms into somewhere magical when the Festival is in full swing. The decorations were astounding and it felt like walking in a fairy tale. I was mesmerized by the colors, the artistry, and the enormity of each and every display and felt so lucky that I could see a second Festival as I now know that it’s totally different each year. If you thought the pictures alone were jaw dropping, just wait for when you see the displays at nighttime. They light up and a lot of them have motions too. It is an absolute MUST if you find yourselves in good ol’ Cleveland, Ohio during the summer!

From start to finish, my day at the Cleveland Zoo was the best. I cannot wait to see their remodeled rain forest because construction was underway and it is HUGE!!

What is your favorite zoo to visit? What’s your favorite animal? I want to hear from all of you, so leave me a comment and let’s chat! Much love. -Sarah