Although it was pouring rain and predicted to continue doing so throughout the evening, we drove up from downtown to check out Wildlights at Woodland Park Zoo. The weather was reasonably warm and we had rain gear with us, so we weren't too concerned, but to our great delight the rain literally stopped the moment we arrived. I felt the last couple drops as we got out of the car, and then it stayed dry for the vast majority of our visit.It was $9.75 a person, with Tyler being free since he's under 2, and I thought it was absolutely worth it. A lot of the zoo is closed off, but everywhere you can walk is covered in lights, including the bathrooms. There are also cute little animal displays along the path.
My favorite were the moving displays. The first we saw was this monkey swinging through the trees. There was also a salamander munching the grass, a salmon jumping through the river, a penguin diving, and an eagle flying.
Most of the animals sleep at night, but we were able to see a few of the ones that live indoors, like the meerkats and the reptiles.
There were also a couple of caribou reindeer. Ty was fascinated by the antlers.
My favorite part, though, was the elephant stampede. Unfortunately I only captured part of it in the above picture, but you can still see the outlines of the elephants above the water. First the deer runs across while the hippo and giraffe drink from the water, then ever so gradually, the elephant lights get bigger as they come closer and closer.
Most of the animals sleep at night, but we were able to see a few of the ones that live indoors, like the meerkats and the reptiles.There were also a couple of caribou reindeer. Ty was fascinated by the antlers.My favorite part, though, was the elephant stampede. Unfortunately I only captured part of it in the above picture, but you can still see the outlines of the elephants above the water. First the deer runs across while the hippo and giraffe drink from the water, then ever so gradually, the elephant lights get bigger as they come closer and closer. 
We finished our stroll through the zoo and took a picture with the penguin before taking Tyler into the kids' area. It started raining again right as we were walking in. He'd been sitting around all day in the stroller, so it gave him a nice chance to run around and get his energy out. We stayed longer than I intended to since he was enjoying it so much.
Such a cute boy coming through the tunnel that was too small for mommy to follow him through.
Our TV at home is 5 feet up the wall, so Ty's never showed a whole lot of interest in it. Here he enjoyed getting up close to the screens and trying to touch the penguins.
It was pouring by then, so we finished up our visit by strolling through the reptile house and into the "Jungle Lights." The Jungle Lights were behind glass and showed Tigers roaming through the jungle. All in all we loved our visit, would highly recommend it, and will absolutely return again.
For more entries in the Christmas in the Northwest series, see
