{Mardi Gras 2012: Audubon Zoo}

We got in New Orleans late Thursday night and allocated Friday morning for our trip to the zoo. It's great time to tour landmark destinations before partaking on the parade festivities in the evening. We have a pretty good zoo in Atlanta but I have to admit that Audubon Zoo is now my favorite zoo. It's unique and you are close and able to get a good view of all the animals.As soon as you walked in the entrance, you are welcomed by beautiful trees and this wonderful elephant water fountain. This got the kids(and parents) really excited! We knew that this would be an awesome adventure.

William and Samantha was absolutely mesmerized by the elephants. They were beautiful!

In addition to the elephants, the white tigers were one of our favorite animals in the Asian exhibit area.

We were a lil bit hungry and decided to grab a quick bite at one of the cafes at the zoo which also offers a view of the flamingos. The kids loved the beignet fries. It was their first time trying it and decided to eat beignets instead of their chicken fingers.

With a full belly, we continued on with our adventure. William spotted this lion and asked me to take a picture of him...only him :)

Samantha was hesitant to touch it but loved looking at the lion.

As I mentioned earlier, I love how close we were to the animals. We got a great view of the gorillas basking in the sun.

This orangutan was having way too much fun playing in their playground.

This bridge leading up to the aviary area house so much birds. The pictures don't do this area justice with the quantity of birds around the area.

The jaguar jungle area was really cool. The statues and monuments made you feel like you are in the Mayan jungle. It very much reminded Ed and I of our Mexican honeymoon.

The jaguars were beautiful. You have a thick glass between you and the jaguars but it felt like you were so close. At one point, this jaguar made eye contact with us and hissed and showed us his pangs.

Audubon zoo prides itself for having a natural Louisiana swamp section. There were plenty of gators around the swamp. It's really a unique area.

This scary creature is the swamp voodoo---intended to protect the bayou.

The zoo also has sections were you can pet different animals. This was heaven for our adventurous boy who loves animals!

What a fun trip to the zoo. The kids really enjoyed it. William did not want to leave and was hoping that they have more areas to explore. Each exhibit is so unique and engaging. We didn't even realized time and stayed at the zoo longer than what we initially had planned on.