Yesterday Ava and I bought a bike trailer so that we could go on bike rides together. It was on our ride that we started to talk about biking to the Calgary Zoo today. I’m happy to say that on Day 5 we actually biked to and from the zoo — 11 miles each direction with a good variation of climbs and descents.
I was a little nervous this morning before we left on our adventure. Not because of the unknown route, the speed limitations of the bike trailer and speed limits on the pathways, but I was nervous because I had no clue if there were bike racks available at the zoo. I tried searching Google for mention of bike racks at the Calgary Zoo and came up empty. Naturally I also checked the zoo’s website. Again, nothing to be found. I then turned to the Twitterverse for an answer and resorted to calling the zoo switchboard to find out; they weren’t answering.
I figured that we would embark on our adventure regardless of bike racks at the zoo or not. Worst case, I knew there would be something the bike could be locked to. We packed up the trailer and took off on the adventure — destination zoo.
When we finally arrived, I found bike racks conveniently located at the north gate of the Calgary Zoo. We locked up the bike and quickly converted the bike trailer to stroller mode and wheeled on in to the zoo. We checked out a hippo, giraffes and the Canadian Wild. My advice, and no doubt Monica will laugh at this, avoid the Canadian Wild section at the zoo. Her line is something like “I can see it or hit it on a drive in the mountains,” which may be true, but it honestly was lacklustre. We made a quick exit and headed to watch the elephants for our lunch time and had a blast.
We didn’t check out tigers, or lions or even the play structures. It was a weird zoo trip but Ava said she had fun. We hopped back on the bike for the 11 mile uphill climb back home. I never realized before just how much more downhill the zoo is from where we live. I guess it makes sense since downtown is really in the river valley and the zoo is quite close. Ava passed out on the ride back home which has me thinking that she really can sleep anywhere. It also has me thinking of doing more rides with her in the coming weeks. Any suggestions on must ride areas in Calgary?
