A trip to John Ball Zoo

Nothing says summer like a trip to the zoo. I may be biased but I think the zoo in Grand Rapids is a pretty nice one. My step-daughter’s boyfriend, Hayden, had a free family pass so we invited Clint’s step-mom along and made a day of it. I packed a picnic lunch and we loaded up our mini-van.

According to Wikipedia – some history on John Ball zoo.

“The original 40 acres (160,000 m²) of the park was donated to the city by noted pioneer and explorer John Ball upon his death in 1884. Shortly after, another 100 acres (0.40 km²) would be added and this marked the beginning of additional amenities, including ponds, a theater, a band shell, playgrounds, ball fields, trails and the zoo. City commission records provide the first mention of animals at the park in 1891, when there was a debate about whether city money should be used to purchase more animals to add to the existing wounded and orphaned animals at the park.

During the Great Depression, the Zoo fell on hard times. Most of the collection was given away to other zoos. The buffalo and deer were butchered to help feed the poor. Only a few aging animals remained.

During 1949, Katherine Whinery approached the mayor of Grand Rapids about resurrecting the zoo by forming a Zoo Society. A deal was formed that if a zoo society could be formed, the city would hire a Zoo Director to run the zoo. Fred Meyer was hired as the first director of the zoo. Construction of the Monkey Island exhibit, the first major exhibit ever built, was started in 1949 with an opening date of June 1, 1950. During the 50-60s John Ball Zoo was built in the hills of the park.

The John Ball Park and Zoo were operated by the City of Grand Rapids until 1989, when the park, known as a regional asset because of the zoo, was sold to Kent County. Kent County continues to operate and maintain the park and zoo.

During the 1990s the zoo expanded with the building of Living Shores Aquarium, which is the only aquarium in the state of Michigan, and new cafe eating area outside of it. Also done at the same time was a new Bald Eagle Aviary. The Mokomboso Valley Chimpanzee Exhibit opened in 2001.”

 

Welcome to John Ball Zoo

The big kids head off on their own- let’s hope they don’t get eaten by a lion (wink)

Grandma Mary lifts CaeCae up to see.

There are lots of hands on things at the zoo.

A wooden train that is fun to climb on

Walking behind a waterfall

Inside the aviary with the birds. for $1 you can feed them by hand.

“Grandma I’m caged!”

The birds seem to like my shoe laces.

They REALLY like her shoes

So much to see

Are monkeys and ferrets related? (wink)

We meet back up with the big kids for lunch and Abbi gives part of her lunch to the geese.

Mary relaxes with Caelun.

Abbi and Hayden give me big smiles.

Everybody that visits the zoo takes pictures with a statue of John Ball.

The big kids take off again  and we head for the aquarium.

Then off to the reptiles

I bet the staff spends a lot of time cleaning nose and finger prints off the glass.

Catching a drum on the way by.

A last stop at the Apes.

Back in the van on the way home- tired, sweaty, and happy. It was a good day.