Gladys Porter Zoo & South Padre Island

On Saturday morning we went to the Gladys Porter Zoo in Brownsville. It is a relatively small zoo but they have the best gorilla display I have ever seen. They have quite a few gorillas and they were moving around. I think the warmer weather that far south is more suited to tropical animals. The weather was perfect that day even though it was cloudy. It did not rain and it was cool but not cold. By Saturday all the excitement and the rough first night in Corpus Christi had caught-up with Lori and try as she might she was not doing well. She was trying to rush us through the zoo at some sort of high speed and it was all we could do to get her to chill out and let us look at the animals. Despite Lori pushing us to get through the zoo, we were able to see quite a bit.

This is some of the gorillas. There is a mom and a baby sitting there although it is hard to see them in this picture.

This is one of the younger gorillas playing. The pictures did not turn out as good as I had hoped but we have some good video of the gorillas running around and playing.

Ryan, Jared and Brett by the gorilla display.

There was an area where we could feed the birds. Here is Ryan feeding one. Unfortunately, we only found one bird that was hungry so the other kids did not get the chance to feed them.

The zoo had a petting zoo and it was fun to watch the kids pet the animals. We do not have any pets at our house because Lori is highly allergic to cats and dogs so the kids are not accustomed to being around animals. They were not sure exactly what to do. They had little brushed that they could use to brush the animals fur. Here we have Brett and Ryan trying to pet a goat.


Jared is cautiously petting the goat while Ryan looks on wondering if he dares to touch it.

The baby camel was a bit nervous and made a quick move that scared Brett.

Ryan telling us about how he petted the goat.

The kids on a turtle statue.

In addition to the gorillas, we actually saw the tigers running around and playing. That is rare. Usually we only see them lying around. The lions moved a little bit, but not like the tigers. With Lori pushing we were able to see the zoo in a short time rather than taking out time meandering through. So, we decided to not pay for the over-priced food at the zoo and went to lunch at Pizza Hut.

Following lunch we decided to go to South Padre Island to see what was there and make plans for later in the week. On the way out there we passed the flea market and had to take a detour to go to it as I told in the previous post. Lori was so tired she could hardly make it through the zoo, but shopping, that is an entirely different thing! After having the flea market experience, we went to South Padre Island.

While at South Padre Island, we drove out on the beach and played for a little while until it got too dark. We were not properly dressed for the occasion, but that did not stop the kids from getting wet. They collected a bunch of shells as well. This is Ryan and Jared playing in the sand and gathering shells. Unfortunately it was getting dark so the pictures tended to be a bit dark and blurry due to the slow shutter speed.

Brett and Jared playing in the water and collecting shells.

Ryan, Brett and Jared playing in the water. Keep in mind this is December 29th. It gets hot in Texas during the summer but this time of year is a great time to live here.