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Zoomar's Petting Zoo

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Idler
Idler
First Reviewer
4 out of 5
Avg. Member Rating
1
Review
4
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Editor Pick

Zoomar's Petting Zoo

  • January 9, 2006
  • Rated 4 of 5 by Idler from Poolesville, Maryland
Zoomar's Petting Zoo

This was absolutely the perfect place for an outing with my brother, his wife, and their three small children. Originally, we’d planned to go to San Juan Capistrano Mission, but decided to go somewhere the kids could play. The petting zoo is in the historic Los Rios neighborhood, near the 0’Neill Museum, Amtrak Station, and Rios Adobe, said to be the oldest continuously occupied residence in California.

The entry fee is modest: $3 for adults and $2 for kids. Even with ‘extras’ such as $3 for a pony ride or $2 for a miniature train ride, it’s cheap thrills in comparison to Sea World or LegoLand, plus it has the advantage of being fairly quiet and contained, forestalling the toddler meltdowns often seen at large amusement parks.

The chief attraction is a large enclosure with rabbits, guinea pigs, and fancy chickens. Most of the rabbits and guinea pigs seemed ‘resigned to fate’ in terms of being picked up, but a few guinea pigs were escape artists. My nieces and nephew quickly figured out that gently offering carrot sticks was a more effective way of coaxing the animals than chasing or grabbing them. Each child soon found a ‘special friend’ to lavish attention on.

When all the carrot sticks were gone, we moved on to the pony rides. Several saddled ponies and one small horse waited patiently in a small corral, and each child eagerly selected a mount. The ranch hands leading the ponies obligingly stopped for photos, and the grins on the children’s faces were, as the credit card commercial says, "priceless."

Near the pony rides were two pens with goats, sheep, and emus. I’ve never seen such comic beggars as the goats, whose antics kept us amused for a good quarter hour. Next, it was time for a miniature train ride, with my niece Ann as "engineer" in the first car. The fellow operating the train obligingly sounded the train whistle at the kid’s repeated requests. Toot toot!

Next, we moved to the birdcages. Cockatiels, finches, lovebirds, parakeets, cockatoos, and macaws chirped, trilled, and screeched from their various perches. My sister-in-law made friends with a cockatiel who ‘shook hands’ through the bars of his cage. Near the birds, yet another pen held quizzical llamas, a friendly donkey, and a few rotund sheep. But what got the kids’ attention were a couple of fat ponies ranging freely a large paddock. Of course, they wanted above all things to pet those ponies – never mind that there were several tethered a few yards away. The ponies, however, had other ideas. One little boy chased them around the paddock, but of course the nimble ponies outmaneuvered him. My niece Sarah offered them hay, but no dice: carrots were the only bribe they’d accept.

We finished our relaxing two-plus hours at the petting zoo by feeding the llamas pellets of alfalfa taken gently from our flattened palms.

Zoomars is guaranteed fun for families with small children or, heck, grown children for that matter.

From journal Christmas in San Diego

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