While trying to come up with a fun, after-church excursion two weeks ago, we decided to check out the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere. Turns out that the land used to be a plantation. How neat is that? It was donated to the city of Nashville for use as a nature center.
Although it was 90 degrees and humid, we had a blast. Before exploring
the various animal exhibits, we toured the Grassmere Historic Home–built in 1810–and walked through the gardens and stables.
I really enjoy history, so seeing all the old buildings and artifacts was the highlight of our zoo trip for me, but the animals also turned out to be pretty fascinating.
Can you see the giraffes in the distance? We couldn’t convince them to come any closer, but Mr. Handsome enjoyed watching them from afar.
And then there were the meerkats. This little guy came right up to the edge of the exhibit to have his picture taken.
After that meerkat lost interest and walked away, I looked up and saw Mr. Handsome standing in the middle of the exhibit! But then I realized he was in a plexiglass enclosure. LOL
We were surprised to find out that the kangaroo pen was a petting zoo. We both enjoyed having our picture taken with a ‘roo. For those of you who live in Australia, how often do you see wild kangaroos? Are they friendly?
The Nashville Zoo is also home to flamingos, zebras, antelopes, ostriches, leopards, cougars, various types of birds, and a handful of other creatures. We look forward to returning for future visits as new exhibits open.