I had this past weekend on my calendar for weeks because it marked the return of Canal Fest, the annual summer festival in my hometown (and the next town over). It had taken two years off due to COVID and while it was missing a few things this year (notably the parade and a number of vendors), most of it was back and I wanted to make sure I made it in for the craft show. It was long a tradition for my mom, grandma, and me to head out early on Saturday morning to hit up the craft show, and I've done my best to make it into town whenever I can to keep that tradition going with my mom now that my grandma is no longer alive. I pondered what else I could do while I was in town, and had the idea to take Carter with me and do a few fun things with him. I felt like we were due for an adventure, but it took a little convincing to get him to come with me. I think the fact that Craig and Jacob were doing a bunch of basketball stuff he'd have to sit through sealed the deal!
For Friday night I wanted to check out Zoomagination at the Buffalo Zoo. It's a lantern festival similar to what we saw in Syracuse five years ago before one of Jacob's tournaments, but I loved that and some of this looked to be even more impressive based on Facebook photos posted by friends and the zoo itself. It was a little pricey, but for just the two of us it wasn't bad for a special night out. Beyond that, I had a couple other fun things up my sleeve for Saturday after the craft show, and the timing worked out nicely because my dad just had knee surgery Thursday so it meant I could see him and give my mom an excuse for a break...haha! (Don't worry, the knee surgery wasn't too intensive and he could still walk, so it wasn't leaving him defenseless. Plus he had Carter to help if needed while we were gone. But I'm sure the mental break was nice for her nonetheless.)
I worked in the office on Thursday and Friday, and apparently I am now completely incompetent at keeping my house life functional when I'm in the office, which meant my Friday after work was a scramble. I still had packing to do and a couple other things to take care of, in addition to buying Zoomagination tickets, getting everyone fed, and getting us on the road. That meant we didn't leave until just after 7, but that wasn't a terrible thing because obviously darkness is better for events like this anyway. I remembered from Syracuse that it was nice to get some daylight time, too, because there are details you can't see as well in the dark, not to mention that daylight photos with people turn out better! We got there just as the sun was dipping behind the trees, so it was perfect timing. We lucked out on parking--the lot just filled up just as we got to the front of the line but a free street spot opened up at the same time right next to us and we had first dibs!
The front gate alone was impressive but the lights weren't completely on and visible so this was only half the amazingness it would have been had it been darker. And unfortunately, they inexplicably turned this off right at 10:30 when the event ended so I didn't get a picture of it in its full glory on our way out.
Right away we were greeted with lovely flowers and butterflies. Even without the lights being super bright you could tell it was going to be gorgeous. Some of the butterflies moved their wings and some of the flowers opened and closed.
This tree was outside the former elephant house (now home of the rhinos), so I had to capture both in the same photo. This zoo holds a lot of memories for me. I've been here a couple times since I had kids, but this will always be my childhood zoo and one of my favorite school field trips. I used to love going in the elephant house (not so much the smell) so seeing that classic old building always brings back memories. And to have this outside it, well...even better!
The wisteria tunnel was gorgeous, even in the daylight. We had to take a selfie!
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| Looking up, with blue lights |
I was bummed when I found out that the animals would not be on exhibit for this, but I guess it makes sense since it would probably mess with their routines and sleep cycles to have people peering at them right up through night time. But it turned out that there was plenty to see, and it was cute that they had "replacement" animals throughout the park, often right near their actual exhibit. The zoo doesn't actually have penguins, but these were one of the first displays we saw, near the rest of the cold weather animals. They also had wolves, snow leopards, and polar bears. (Side note: I took over 150 photos of this event so you're just seeing a small fraction of the fun--I'll try to fill in the blanks of pictures I'm not posting when I can.)
There was a series of mythical creatures (you'll see one later), zebras, and rhinos, which led up to the giraffes right outside the giraffe house. Giraffes are probably my favorite zoo animal, and for the longest time we didn't have them in Rochester so I had to go to Buffalo or other zoos to check them out. We have them in Rochester now and I really need to get to our zoo ASAP because we have had TWO new babies within the last couple months! Nothing is more awkwardly cute than a baby giraffe!
They had these two giant alligators--much larger than life--and their mouths opened and closed!
The walkway beyond them was gorgeous and butterfly themed. They were in the trees, and they had tube lights shaped like butterflies along the railings. We didn't notice it until further down the path when someone pointed it out, but there were also projections on the path. The tree displays changed colors and it was so pretty!
I wish I took a late night video but I guess I forgot!
At the end of the butterfly path was a tunnel made of flamingo feathers, along with flamingos!
The central hub of the zoo, where the fossil dig lives and the focal point of most of the buildings, was quite a sight. You could see displays all around it, with an impressive lantern display in the central fossil dig area. The nearby dragon really jumped out. This was taken from the front of the main building near the lions and tigers looking back toward the rest of the zoo.
The panda falls was really impressive. There was so much animation and the display was huge. This picture barely does it justice.
Nearby were a couple lighted interactive activities. There were pads you could jump on to make a lighted pole animate (like the strong man hammer games at carnivals) and swings!
As I mentioned, the animals were not out in their habitats for the event. You could see a rhino through a door and we spied a couple bunnies hanging out in a grassy outdoor habitat, but apparently the bighorn sheep didn't have anywhere to go except their mountain. So we did get to see them!
There were displays featuring lions, bears, either cheetahs or leopards, as well as something that looked like maybe antelopes (guess I should have looked at the labels better!). I personally enjoyed the color changing sloths...
...and man-eating plants. I couldn't decide if these were more "Little Shop of Horrors", "Super Mario", or just plain old venus fly traps. But their mouths opened and closed, too!
Like the last one of these we visited, there was a series of zodiac-themed lanterns. These were very different. Carter took delight in finding his, which was the snake on the left in the picture below.
One of the coolest elements was the peacock. It definitely likes to show off!
I loved the colors of this frog. The colors changed but it always looked striking.
I thought it was appropriate that this chameleon changed colors, too!
The centerpiece of the exhibit was in the circular fossil dig area. There was a huge display of hanging lanterns. It was so pretty I couldn't resist a selfie!
I thought Carter should have one, too! You never know when you need a fun self-portrait!
He enjoyed running around on the color changing stars in the middle....
...and then decided he wanted to dig for fossils without tools. It was a little dirty, but oh well.
We spent a lot of time there--partly because Carter was having fun and partly because Craig happened to call while we were there. But it was starting to get late so we had to keep moving--after all, it was now dark and we had a lot to go back and re-see! But first, swans!
As we traversed the zoo again, Carter wanted to ride a different swing. The first one he rode was attached to the top bar by two ropes, which meant it only swung forward. Others had a single connection so they were free to twist and turn a bit more, and he wanted to try that!
It was definitely a sight to behold. I can't quite describe what it reminded me of, but I suppose it wasn't far off from every overpriced light-up toy they used to sell at the fireworks when I was a kid.
We walked back through the wisteria tunnel and it was definitely more interesting in the dark!
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| Caught this one mid-color change! |
We took a series of selfies in each color - red, blue, teal, and purple, but I'll spare you those! It was amazing how different the flowers looked in each color. The flowers were pink and purple originally and seemed to take on the light completely, while the green leaves looked brown in some colors.
In a couple spots they had these fake fireworks. One area had giant cicadas or something in the trees. This was near the wolves. The water Carter hears is the hoses filling the water pit in the rhino exhibit.
Here's one of the mythological figures I mentioned earlier. I thought this one was amazing in the dark!
The butterfly walkway was really neat in the dark. You could see the projections a lot better.
The butterflies were even more stunning!
Even though the dragon was really similar to the one we saw in Syracuse, I couldn't get enough of it. The colors and patterns were so beautiful.
Carter wanted to do a picture holding up part of the dragon but the angle wouldn't work right so he defaulted to something he saw a kid doing earlier--a mid-jump shot!
There was a set of wings but the line was pretty long (and disorganized) each time we walked by, but on our last pass they were finally free. For good reason, I guess, as it was hard to get a good picture in the dark!
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| You can just see Carter in there somewhere! |
One walkway back to the front of the zoo had this striking snake tunnel!
Here's the butterfly tree I showed earlier in the dark. It was really beautiful, as the colors changed from red to green to blue.
Unfortunately, the visit ended on a bit of a low note. We headed out to the front of the zoo around 10:20 (ten minutes before closing time) to try to do this cool kaleidoscope thing--basically a triangular set of mirrors with video projections that you could step into. It looked like a fun selfie opportunity. There had been a long line when we arrived and I figured we'd just do it later whenever we came back to the front. Our last walk took a little longer than planned, and unfortunately, the worker told us that the group that was in there was the last one for the night. Apparently that feature gets shut down early to encourage people to leave on time. I understand it, but I wish they'd have labeled it as such because it was disappointing to miss out. Carter was really upset and pulled a tantrum much like he had last Sunday, kicking at rocks and generally acting miserable and negative about the entire experience. At that point I reminded him that we're going to Disney in a month and there will likely be some disappointments there, so he better figure out how to manage them better by then. I'm not spending thousands of dollars to go there, do a ton of amazing things, and then let one little thing ruin his day (and the rest of ours, too, when he melts down). So, we have some work to do there. Then a couple minutes later when we walked out of the zoo, we discovered that those front gate lights were off as well, which was yet another disappointment. It definitely wasn't the best way to go out and felt a little chintzy on their part. BUT...overall it was an amazing experience and I truly enjoyed it otherwise. I love stuff that feels sort of magical and surreal and beautiful like that.
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