Grassmere Zoo (Long Entry)

 Day of Adventure:  Today Bart and Brandon finally had a day off, so we decided to go to one of Sky's most favorite places - the Zoo. This girl just loves zoos. When we were in Boston we took her to that one too.

On the way toward the entrance, we had to take our picture in front of the giraffe parking marker.

 

 This zoo was close by, just down the street in Nashville.

This was one of the very first exhibits that we came upon. I think this is where babies come from...

 this humungous bird came charging right at us.... he came all the way up to the fence. Sky jumped away, but I was too busy taking pictures.

 

 We think he was a rescue bird because his wing wouldn't fold up the right way. Kind of sad, but I'm glad that they were able to keep him here at the zoo.

 Looky here - look what I found in this enclosure?

 These guys were just chillin. I'm sure that they are considered a pest outside of the zoo. But they looked pretty soft.

 

 It was such a nice day. Brandon, Sky, Bart and I all went to IHOP for breakfast, and then we headed to the zoo. We weren't the very first people there, but this morning it wasn't busy at all. It was nice and cool, and it was a little overcast, so it wasn't too hot yet. (It is supposed to rain again tonight).

 Walking along, we looked up and there was this nest in the trees. If you look close enough, there are worms coming out of the top of it. It was really strange, but it's nice to see unusual things.

 Brandon says that he found a "marijuana" leaf plant in the zoo. Really?

 They had a little kids area to play in, and Sky and I jumped at the chance to play around a little and have some fun. The guys didn't want to let lose - but it didn't stop us.

 You remember that song??? She sailed away on a bright summer's day on the back of a crocodile.

 

We tried to get the guys to join us in here, but they were too macho. This snake wound around all under the tree house, and then you come out of the mouth.

 

While we were walking around, we kept hearing these really loud noises. We looked up and there were these monkeys playing around in the trees. The way that this one was, it looked liked his arms were double jointed. He was just chillin out and watching everyone. The zoo has EYES....

 Sky and I found the carousel and we just had to ride it. Sky was so excited. I couldn't believe it. I chose the bear to ride. I think she was riding the red panda. The only reason I didn't choose the giraffe, is because it didn't go up and down.

 We were doing our parade wave here.

 Coming ....

 

and going!

 

 Look at that smile on Sky's face. She was having so much fun.

We were trying to be fancy and do tricks before our ride was over. It was way too short of a ride, and cost each of us $2.

  Elephants were next. There were 2 very large ones here.

 

  They were hanging out by the water. And the one that is backwards, kept sticking his back feet back barely on top of the water. He wouldn't touch it, but he would put one foot out, and then change it to the other foot. I wonder if that is a way that he was cooling off?

 Then, we came to my very favorite! THE GIRAFFES. Aren't they beautiful?

 It's hard to see in this picture, but there were these little trees that were right by the dark worn path. They looked like desert plants, but as we got to looking closer, they were wires all hooked together. They were electric wire, so that the giraffes couldn't come any closer. You can see that they seem to pace all in the same place.

I could stay and watch these guys all day. They are just so graceful.

 

 It seemed like this one wanted to come and see us. I think he thought that we had food.

 In an enclosure next to the giraffes, there were some kangaroos.

 We got to go inside in groups to see them. You couldn't go out on the grass, but if they came out onto the sidewalk, you could pet them. They were laying out all over the place enjoying the sunshine.

We were told that this little Joey was 7 months old. Looks almost full grown, huh? It had just come out of the mothers pouch! Even though he was 7 months old, he still stays in the Mamas pouch. Kangaroos can take care of 3 Joeys at a time. One is the "incubus" (I know that's not the term), one in the pouch, and one out on the ground. What a Mom!

 

 We had to wait in a long line to pet this one that came up on the sidewalk. But I got to finally pet it. I think I found his tickle spot!

It was so soft. I was surprised. It was softer than a rabbit.

Right after I got to pet it, it hopped off the sidewalk, and no one else was able to pet it. I guess I lucked out!

 They didn't have too many large animals, but we did see this leopard that was fast asleep. I mean, he was completely out! I wonder if he started to fall if he would land on his feet?

Around the corner, was this old house that was there on the zoo property. I thought it was strange to see this. It was out of the ordinary. Sky said that it was creepy. I said it was awesome. Anyway, as we were walking up the hill to take a better look, they were just starting a tour of it. So, we ran to catch up.

 

During the tour, the guide was kind of bossy. She was like - don't touch anything, don't lean on anything, and no pictures of the inside of the house. It was a nice tour tho. We learned a lot. In one of the rooms, there was this gorgeous quilt that was laying on this bed. I sooo wanted to take a picture so that I could try to make one like it. I told Brandon that I really liked that quilt, and what I wanted to do.

 

 I didn't even see him do it, but after the tour, he showed me the picture that he took sometime during the visit for me. He can be so sneaky! I think Brandon would do anything for me. He is wonderful. So, now I will have to see what I can do to try to make one of these beautiful quilts. I'm sure that Brandon will want me to leave it to him (if I d make one), since - he took the picture!

 Here is the back of the house. We actually came out onto the wrap around porch on the 2nd floor at the end of the tour, so that we could see the kitchen that was located farthest from the house. They had made one of the upstairs windows into a door so that we could walk out onto the balcony.

The kitchen is that little brick building. Back in the day, they had no air conditioning so they built the kitchen away from the main house so that it wouldn't get so hot.

Those people by the kitchen are volunteers who maintain the gardens.

Here is some of the old plowing equipment that they had used.

 

 Brandon & Bart in front of the slave quarters in the back.

Now, remember this is still at the zoo, on the actual property.

 

 It was a sad story about this place. In the end, there were only 2 sisters Margaret & Elise Croft, that never married, therefore, never had children to leave the property to upon their death. They operated the farm until 1985 when the last sister died. The sisters deeded the 200 acre property to the people of Nashville, and after several attempts, they were able to open it as a zoo in 1990.

While they were clearing the property to make room for other animals around the zoo, they came upon 21 unmarked graves. These were people that worked on or around the farm.

 

So, they moved all of them to the back side of the main house and put a rock to mark their graves.

 

There are only 20 graves, but there are actually 21 individuals. Two of them were buried together. I thought that was cool to show respect to them.

There is another small cemetery located in the back where the 2 sisters are buried, along with other family members. Here is Tennessee there are graves all over the place.

 

You can tell how old the headstones are because the names are all worn off, a some of the boxes are eroding and falling apart.

 

Then farther back still, there was some more old farming equipment and buggies. I didn't like them as well as the buggy that we got in Boston, but they were still very cool.

In a shed, was even more farm equipment. They actually had them labeled each piece - which was nice. Then we could know what each piece actually did.

 

 There were other animals around the main house too. This isn't the best picture, but these cows were called "Oreo" cows. They looked just like Oreo cookies. The front of them were brown, their middles were white, and then the back end was brown. They were really big too.

 I loved the barn. They stored the hay above the stalls, so then all you had to do was drop the bales below when you needed them. Very smart idea.

 These guys are crazy. This big ol' bull was standing at the door. They just had to grab it by the horns.

 And, look at those horns! They were really sharp. Of course I had to try it too. He was actually pretty docile and friendly.

Look at this fluffy barn owl. It was real, and it was sitting in the eaves of the barn. Looked so peaceful as it slept.

 

This is a picture of one of the Croft sisters in 1978 - Elise. She was really petite. It reminded us all of Grandma Carlile. (This photo was taken on the back porch of the main building above). Seeing a photo of her in real life, made all of the tour seem more real.

 

 It was the perfect day to go to the Zoo. We had so much fun!

 Not sure quite what these hairy guys were, but look at those ears! I think they were some kind of hog - with that nose.

 

 Waking to the next exhibit, there was this HUGE bumble bee that kept following Brandon. Well, it finally got on his nerves, and it wasn't long until Brandon smacked it with his hat and knocked it to the ground. He didn't kill it, but he sure made it mad. He said that he could feel it buzzing really hard when he picked it up!

All the while, this noisy bird kept making all kinds of noises up in the tree. He was small, but he was VERY loud - almost obnoxious!

 

It was getting kind of hot, so we decided to duck inside this reptile habitat. And, or course, this is one of the very first things that we saw. Hey Mike, - what day is it?

 

Yep - giving her a very tight hug!

 

 I have always liked frogs. There were a variety of frogs here in the habitat. (Made me miss my frog Tony - that Brandon got for me a few years back). There were so many colors and varieties.

  I enjoyed this exhibit because it showed the different stages of the frog. From the eggs - to the tadpoles - then to the grown frog. I loved playing with tadpoles as a child. I remember them being so soft.

Here is a frog with attitude!

 

There were even some really beefy ones!

 

 Then Brandon's favorite = The Snakes.

 

 Even tho I had been to zoos before, there were some things that I had never seen before. This spotted stingray was beautiful.

 

These alligators looked fake just sitting there. They were just babies, and didn't move a muscle.

 

 On the wall was this huge box with all of these beautiful butterflies and other bugs of all shapes and sizes. Can you imagine having one of these flying at you?

 Look at the horn on that bug! Now, those are SCARY!

 

 More snakes for Brandon. I have to admit that some of them were rather pretty.

 Lizards are fun to watch too. They look like they are acting sooo cool.

 Not sure if this snake was going to try to eat this frog or not. He was slithering toward him. The frog didn't act like he was scared at all.

 Oh these fruit bats were awesome to watch. They just swarmed the fruit and would eat it, even hanging upside down.

 I came upon some frogs that only come out at night, too.

 So many amazing creatures to see.

 Bart messing around with this turtle.

 This was an interesting way to display a black widow!

Even tho I don't like snakes - AT ALL - I thought that the pattern on this one was really different, and pretty.

 This is one HUGE lizard!

 Brandon & Sky 2015

 We thought this was funny. Instead of just having a sign saying that the exhibit was empty - this is perfect.

 Part of the alligator exhibit. I guess I didn't realize how big the skulls actually are.

 Bart's personality coming thru once again!

 These Flamingos were actually a salmon color.

For some reason I thought they were pink.

 

 Large bamboo was everywhere, and made for a nice shade cover. It was nice and cool under it too. We had a great day. We stayed until the early afternoon. On the way home, it started to rain, so we timed it perfectly.