Hot and Hungover at St Louis Zoo

For some reason, I took very few photos during my time in St Louis.

I was having too much of a good time. I was also too lazy.

So when I came home and looked through my camera slideshow I was surprised to see several photographs from my trip to the St Louis zoo, of all places, some of which I don’t even remember taking. You see, I had been very hungover when I took them. And it was a very hot day, so I blame the heat fatigue. And what else do you do when you are hot and hungover in St Louis? Go to the zoo, of course!

“How did I end up in the smallest swimming pool in the world?”

Before I get ahead of myself, I’ll go back to the beginning. I had first read about the zoo in a travel blog about the city, well before I had even booked my plane tickets. I had read that considering it was free entrance, the zoo was considered one of the most impressive in the US. Now I’m a sucker for a good zoo and a few cute animals so I was already planning a visit. Added to that the fact that it was free (well, most of us are budget travellers here, after all) and I was determined to get a few hours in at the zoo at some point during my long weekend visit.

“20 sit-ups a day gives me abs of steel”

Unfortunately my planning wasn’t too great. I had planned to go on the Saturday morning and spend a while there before heading to the air conditioned haven of the shopping mall. But the impromptu all-day drinking session the day before (Friday) wasn’t really the best preparation for spending the morning surrounded by excitedly screaming children and smelly mammals.

“What do you mean, 80s rock hairstyles aren’t in fashion??”

Having said that, the zoo was all I had hoped it would be. The range of animals was great (perhaps even better than some of the paid entrance zoos in the UK), although you had to pay extra if you wanted to watch the sea lion show and enter a couple of exhibits (I declined on both counts…I have seen enough sea lion shows to last me a lifetime and was enjoying being out in the sunshine).

“Look at that garden furniture the neighbours got. Shocking”

This was also the day that I first fell in love with prairie dogs. Who could not love these cute little burrowers? I swear if I had had a bigger bag with me I would’ve tried to sneak one out to keep as a pet. (But you didn’t read that here).

“My invisible piano playing skills are definitely improving”

By the time I left, I felt revitalised and ready to take on the Cinco de Mayo festivities that were lined up for later that evening. Who knew the zoo could be such a good hangover cure?

“Be a rock….be a rock…no-one will see you…”