Things To Do: The Philadelphia Zoo

We actually toured the Philadelphia Zoo as a possible reception location. And it would have been awesome, but none of the possible reception spaces were right for us. But we definitely recommend that you check out the zoo!

Evidently it's America's First Zoo. It actually opened in 1874 (after a 15 year delay due to the Civil War).

Matt went to the zoo often as a child. His most enduring memory is that it would always be the time of year when the Giant Tortoises were mating. His parents told him they were wrestling.

When we toured, they mentioned having a cocktail hour at Big Cat Falls, but you can only eat in parts where the Big Cats can't see you. Because, y'know, they like eating. This sounded a little potentially dangerous for our guests.

You could also have your event at the Primate Reserve -- which we were interested in, since we love monkeys. But being monkeys and all, they seemed to enjoy peeing and playing with themselves, at least when we visited.

This is turning into a very dirty blog post all of a sudden.

My favorite when we went, were actually the elephants. They blended into their home so well I had walked almost all the way by them without noticing, despite the fact that they are really really really huge.

They have lots and lots of peacocks that roam freely throughout the zoo. Sometimes they'll take you by surprise when they're up in the trees.

In September, both the Swan Boats and the Zoo Balloon are open. The Balloon gives you a bird's eye view of the zoo.

My parents and I only saw half the zoo when we went, because we had other reception locations to look at and it was a really hot day, but what we saw was very impressive. They had a really wide array of animals. Definitely recommended!