This afternoon we drove 40 minutes east to Aldergrove so we could visit the Greater Vancouver Zoo. Aldergrove is a smallish place in the township of Langley and is only about 15 minutes away from the USA border. The ride over was very easy, it was nearly highway 1 the whole way and we got there way before we expected. The ticket prices were good, only $18 each (it was advertised at $20 but I assume they've dropped it slightly for the winter). You can also purchase an optional $5 train ride around the park too but we decided not to go on it as it's more for little kids and families. Not long after we arrived they fed the lions which was quite entertaining and it's the first time I've seen the animals up really close because usually at other places you can't get so near to the fences.
Although they still had animals like lions, tigers and giraffes the place seemed different to other zoo's we've visited before and it made sense when we found out that it actually started off as a game farm in the 1960's. In terms of an actual Zoo I'd say others we've visited in the UK such as Twycross and Blackpool are better, but it's nice in it's own way and it was still a good place to walk around. Also with it being a lot cooler weather now most of the animals weren't very active which is fair enough but they didn't have any indoor areas to view which was a shame. I also thought there was a lack of information on the animals except for small noticeboards (for example there were no gamekeepers or anyone to talk to except the person who fed the lions at the beginning). So it was good but not fantastic, I'd probably give it a 6 out of 10 if I had to rate the place. I guess one thing to keep is mind is the question I've read in books "when you're in a place that already has so much natural beauty and wildlife why do you need to visit a zoo?". One thing that was good was seeing more animals from the americas such as Cougars, Jaguars, Elks, Artic Foxes, Bisons, Coyotes etc. We would visit this place again the future but we'd probably wait until we were with people who had children or in the future when we might have some of our own (and that's definitely not on the immediate horizon!).
We spent just over 3 hours there before we left and we then went to find something to eat. We'd forgot to take lunch with us so we went for fast food, we're never short of options here when we decide to go that route! We tried a Wendy's for the first time which was nice and then we made our way home unfortunately not missing the rush hour traffic back. We're now just about to sit down and watch the Canucks vs Detroit, hopefully it will be a 4th win in a row!
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