Little Ponderosa turned into a big adventure!

Our trip to the Little Ponderosa zoo turned out much better than I anticipated. Going to the Knoxville zoo several times I had grown accustomed to seeing animals in cages but from a great distance, or so it seems. Jamie was always happy to see the animals, but we usually had to lift him up or spend several minutes trying to point out to him where the animals were. Unfortunately the animals would almost always be laying down or sleeping, making it almost impossible to see them.

The Little Ponderosa zoo was not very big, but Jamie and his classmates were able to practically walk up to almost all of the animals and pet them, feed them, and most importantly interact with them. The first part of the zoo was inside a barn like structure with a few monkey like animals, an ant eater, a few snakes and other lizard like animals. Jamie was excited to see the animals, especially the little monkey like animals. Once we got outside the kids were able to see two tigers up close, and a few other animals. After that the kids got to go on a pony ride, which they all loved. Then the kids were able to visit with farm type animals such as sheep and goats, which they also got to feed. All of the kids, including Jamie, were excited at the prospect of feeding the animals. The funniest part is when the Ostriches came up and started hungrily pecking at the kids hands. All of the kids were scared of the big birds, but also intrigued. They thought it was funny and started throwing the feed down because they didn't want to get their hands pecked by the big birds, but they also were squealing with delight at the sight of them.

After a little while their teacher ran out of animal food, but the kids were just happy to pet the animals. There was a cute little miniature burrow with a soft fluffy head of hair that all of the kids loved to pet. Next were the Zonkeys. Why anyone would pair a Zebra with a Donkey, I will never know. The kids also got to see a real Zebra, along with a few other birds toward the end. At the very end of the trip the kids got to eat lunch. All in all it was a decent day, and I was glad that I was able to share it with my wife and my son.