The WAL

We spent the first day of our vacation in Toronto at the Metro Zoo.  We’ve been out of Toronto for about five and a half years now.  My oldest has some vague recollections of the zoo while his younger sister doesn’t recall it at all and the youngest was born just after we moved here, so it was an adventure for everyone.

With the exception of the Meercats (which seemed to be off display for reasons unknown), we hit all of the animals on everyone’s Top 3 list and an awful lot more besides, probably something more than 2/3 of the zoo total and that’s a lot of walking in one day for kids, especially since it was the first day of what turned out to be a six-day vacation.

But the highlight of the day, as I mentioned in my last post, was Stingray Bay, a travelling exhibit that’s at the Zoo until October.  Picture a large kidney-shaped (sort of) swimming pool that’s only a couple of feet deep and is home to thirty or so stingrays of various sizes from dinner plate to hula hoop.  The rays swim around and around and when they get close to you, you stick your hand in the water, after divesting it of any jewelry or watches you might be wearing, and stroke them as they go by.  Sometimes you get splashed a little, but mostly these strange puppy-dog fish come and rub up against your hand.  They sort of feel like soft dolphins, spongier and a little less rubbery.  If that doesn’t help, think of something the consistency of well-chewed taffy but wet and smooth.  Okay, that sounds kind of gross but it isn’t, really.  Maybe play dough under plastic wrap with water poured over the top.

It’s difficult to ascribe motivations to a fish, but some of them seemed to actively seek out people to stroke them.

Highly recommended.