While trying to come up with a fun, after-church excursion two weeks ago, we decided to check out the Nashville Zoo at Grassmere. Turns out that the land used to be a plantation. How neat is that? It was donated to the city of Nashville for use as a nature center.
Although it was 90 degrees and humid, we had a blast. Before exploring
the various animal exhibits, we toured the Grassmere Historic Home–built in 1810–and walked through the gardens and stables.
I really enjoy history, so seeing all the old buildings and artifacts was the highlight of our zoo trip for me, but the animals also turned out to be pretty fascinating.
Can you see the giraffes in the distance? We couldn’t convince them to come any closer, but Mr. Handsome enjoyed watching them from afar.
And then there were the meerkats. This little guy came right up to the edge of the exhibit to have his picture taken.
After that meerkat lost interest and walked away, I looked up and saw Mr. Handsome standing in the middle of the exhibit! But then I realized he was in a plexiglass enclosure. LOL
We were surprised to find out that the kangaroo pen was a petting zoo. We both enjoyed having our picture taken with a ‘roo. For those of you who live in Australia, how often do you see wild kangaroos? Are they friendly?
The Nashville Zoo is also home to flamingos, zebras, antelopes, ostriches, leopards, cougars, various types of birds, and a handful of other creatures. We look forward to returning for future visits as new exhibits open.
Saving the world one…. What does the rest of Mr. H's tee shirt say?
One tooth at a time. Lol.
Ellie
Thought you were going to say molar. 🙂
Haha!
What a fun way to spend a Sunday afternoon!! From what you have shared on your blog it seems like you and Mr Handsome enjoy doing the same kind of things that my husband and I do.
That's neat to hear! If you have any excursion ideas to share, do let me know. 🙂
Ellie
Must have been a day you wished would never end!
Yep! 🙂
How cool you got to see some Kangaroos – I live in New South Wales in Aus and we see kangaroos everytime we drive into the city (nearly every day!) Wild roos aren't quite as friendly as the little guy you met though!
That would be so neat to see kangaroos in the wild. Do you ever see really big ones, or are they usually smaller? I suppose the big ones would probably live farther away from people?
Ellie
The ones we see are much bigger. The males are usually around 6'5'' and weigh upwards of 130lbs.
Like Hannah the ones we see are the big ones! Although we also see wallabys sometimes which are smaller (and cuter!)
Wow, that's huge! Once they reach 6'5" I would imagine that they are more frightening than cute.
Ellie
I don't see kangaroos in the city but towards the outer parts of the city with more bushland you see them and also further up and down the coastline. We own a farm about 6 hours west of Brisbane and they're everywhere! They're actually considered a pest that some people cull. They're big and dangerous and have a tendency to jump in front of cars travelling at high speeds on rural highways.
Yikes! I can imagine that running into one with a car could be quite dangerous. Do people hunt them for sport?
Ellie
Not for sport that I know of. Mostly just to cull the large populations because they eat the food for cattle and stuff. The biggest danger is just them jumping in front of cars because it happens so fast and they're so big. Cars just don't stand a chance and there have been a lot of really serious/fatal accidents cause by stuff like that. It happens with wombats too (hitting one of those on the road is like hitting a giant rock and will flip your car).
If you hit a kangaroo at high speeds your car will not make it out unscathed. I guess everything in Australia really can kill you! haha.
Sounds like deer where I live (jumping in front of car part).
Yes, that's just what I was thinking!
Ellie
At are zoo they let you feed the giraffes they give you lettuce to feed the giraffes
That's neat! I would have loved for the giraffes to come closer. They just weren't interested. haha.
Ellie
Some roos near parklands learn to trust people and will come pretty close looking for food but the big males can be aggressive. It's true that we see them a lot in rural areas but mostly we're just trying not to hit them while driving. Did you see any joeys? They're the cutest. My boss is hand raising one who lost it's mother.
Hi Sarah,
One of the kangaroos at the zoo had a joey in her pouch. We couldn't get a good look at it, but we laughed when we saw that its foot was sticking out. LOL. Do the joeys spend most of their time inside the pouch, or do they come out frequently?
Ellie
The older the joey the more frequent trips out of the pouch and for longer periods. They go into the pouch head first then turn around, it looks funny!
Hi Ellie- you and Mr H. have nice white teeth 🙂
Why thank you! 🙂
Ellie
I live near a reservoir and there are heaps of roos in there! The ones near us aren't the real big ones though, they aren't small wallabies or anything just not the BIG ones. Roo meat is delicious if you ever get the chance to try some.
As for other Australian animals, this morning I looked out my window and saw a koala climbing one of our trees! It's not uncommon but it's still exciting when it happens.
Lorinda
Hi Lorinda,
That's really neat! I'm guessing that koalas stay away from people, probably similar to the squirrels in North America?
Ellie
Ellie you look like Stephanie Labbe. Especially in the commercial she comes out in.
I hadn't heard of her, so I looked her up, and I can see why you say that. Sounds like she's a soccer player?
Ellie
Yup she is. I hadn't heard of her either until I saw her in the commercial. She looks a lot like you in the commercial. In other pictures not so much 😃
I'll have to see if I can look up the commercial! What product/service is it advertising?
Ellie
I like reading your blog a lot. But as an African-American, I gasped when I read the sentence about how neat you thought it was that the zoo used to be a plantation. That's not neat. Many of my relatives lived and died on plantations in the South. Its history, yes. Neat!? No.
I'm so sorry that I offended you. That was definitely not my intention. I have a thing for old buildings and artifacts, so just walking through the house was interesting to me. It absolutely breaks my heart to think about those who were enslaved in our very own country.
Please accept my apology. I'm blessed to have you as a reader.
Ellie
Apology accepted. Just trying to spread awareness of how different people can view things. I knew it wasn't intentional. Take care!
I'm glad to hear that! And I truly do appreciate your comment. 🙂
Ellie
As an African American, I had the same thought. I too realized that you meant no harm. We have a different perspective because of our history. Thanks for sharing your adventures. I enjoy reading your blogs ☺.
Thank you for your comment. 🙂 And thanks for reading my blogs! If you have any suggestions or feedback, feel free to let me know.
Have a great weekend.
Ellie