Trip to the Waco Zoo

I have been too busy to write! Worked the weekend and then my SIX grandchildren, my daughter, Jon Marie, and my daughter-in-law, Spring, and Spring's little cousin, Ashtyn, came up and spent the night with me.....I had a houseful! It was good to have all the grandkids together......Ross, September, Summer, Sunday, Cobey, and Callie, aged twelve to almost two. 

We met my sister, Sue, and three of her grandchildren Tara, Krista, and Cody (These are her daughter Amy's children) the next morning at the Waco Zoo in Cameron Park, our old "stomping grounds". It was fun to walk the grounds of the zoo and know what used to be there. The just-finished Brazos River Corridor additions are superb.....the new HUGE aquarium is great.....the black bears were one of the best parts...they can swim right up to you, as their water tank is glass and the walk you are standing on is right next to it. One bear really likes people, as he (or she) swam right up to us......It scared Cobey, 4, and Cody, 3, to have that big old bear swimming right at you  (level with your face!) and at the last minute be turned away by the glass! Callie, only two years old, was too young to be scared and she "petted" the bear through the glass. I will admit it did take some nerve to stand there without flinching!

Saw a lot of new, really interesting animals and exhibits...I have always liked the snake house.... the herpetarium...plus it is cool in there!  I like the fact that the Zoo added animals native to this specific area and to Texas....I wish they had had a horny toad, a little critter I had as a pet growing up in the '50's...it slept at night in a cigar box in the house in my room, right beside my bed....I used to catch big red ants for it to eat and led it around with a long red ribbon tied around its neck. I had several as pets but can't quite remember what I named them...I think perhaps one was named "Sadie",  but that might have been my sister Sue's horny toad, and not mine. 

 Cameron Park turned out to be the perfect setting for the Zoo...lots of shade for animals and people....so natural and much more beautiful than small cages...This was old home ground...All of the Head family (my Daddy and his brothers and sisters) and their friends had grown up roaming this very Park back in the 1920's, '30's, and '40's....and my sister, Sue, (born in 1948), my brother, Charlie, (born in 1958), and I (born in 1946) also knew every inch of it from running wild as little Indians in the 1950's, '60's, and '70's. 

The house at 2220 North 4th Street that my daddy built in 1948 is still just up the street from the Zoo....Daddy was against the Zoo being put in Cameron Park..he felt it would be smelly, messy, and not a good idea....Daddy died in 1989, before the Zoo was put in the Park, but I think he would happily admit how wrong he was, as it  turned out to be a wise decision and a wonderful place for it.  I think it also made the Park a safer place, just having a lot of people in that area again.

Every time I drive down 4th Street, I am glad to see that the old home of my first and dearest childhood friend, Sandra Gunter, is still there, too, on 4th Street, right across from the Zoo, across from what used to be the Waco High School Athletic Field.....I spent many a happy hour in that home, visiting and being treated as a member of the family, with Sandra, her wonderful mother and father and her three younger sisters....She and I used to sneak across the street and sit in the bushes to watch our favorite boys we had a crush on as they practiced football.

 Even today, forty- something years later, every time I pass by there, I think of my favorite sweetie, Richard Durham, who I had adored since 7th grade and who died in 1997.  When no one was on the field, my sister, Sue, and I used to race our horses (Shorty and Rinky Dink) wide-open from one end to the other......once Sue was riding home from the Stables in the Park and came across the Athletic Field....she stopped her horse, got off, collected several BABY SKUNKS she had spotted at the edge of the woods, got back on the horse, and rode on home with them....to say the least, Daddy made her take them back to their mother!  

At the Zoo, Sue and I were able to tell where the miniature train had been (it is in Lion's Park now), Green Lake (which we called the Lily Pond for all the huge lilypads floating on the water), as well as where the Rose Garden ( designed and built by my grandfather, Billy Head, after the City of Waco sent him to the 1933 World's Fair in Chicago to see its famous Rose Garden) had been. 

Cameron Park's Rose Garden had two beautiful fountains big enough to wade and swim in, a big flight of long, cement stairs with flower vases at each end, a drinking fountain built into the wall, and a large rectangular wading pool with rosebushes planted all around it. I remember walkways, roses, and pretty flowers being everywhere.  Behind it were the tennis courts and two other wading pools....of course, all of that is gone now, and it is the Zoo.  It was amazing to see some of our old trails still there that we had walked or ridden on our bikes or horses as children forty years ago.

Even though it was a very hot day...I think it hit 100 degrees.....we had a great time. The Waco Zoo is one of the best around, or so I overheard several people saying. A lot of people go to the bigger, older zoos, like Dallas, and there are lots of animals, but in small cages...the natural setting makes all the difference in the looks of the Waco Zoo and in the contentment and comfort of the animals.

All the grandkids loved the zoo, so we plan to go back again when it is cooler...it was really hot for two older ladies like me and Sue! After all, we are nearly SIXTY years old!