Hometown Tourists: Zoomars Petting Zoo

Finally!!! We are Summer Adventuring!!!

Destination: Zoomars Petting Zoo, San Juan Capistrano

This one has been on my list for a while, but because I hate driving, Capo is like an international destination (never mind that it's in the same county--shut up). Ben loved every second of it. Matt and I were mixed. I should start by saying that originally I wanted to go to the SD Zoo that day, but I had to drop off my jug 'o pee at 9:30, which meant no drive to San Diego for us (I'm not driving 3-4 hours round trip to spend two hours at the zoo--or anywhere, for that matter; we go first thing in the morning or we don't go at all).

First off, it's not just your standard petting zoo with a dirt patch of goats. Not that my animal-lover kid would not gladly spend an entire day with a pen of goats. But I will not drive a thousand miles (fine, 22 miles) and pay real money to pet them without also getting something else for my money (like a real zoo or Disneyland or a fair). Zoomars was appealing because it offered more than the free farm down the street, and it was cheaper and closer than the real zoo. It was a pretty cool little place. One of the things I liked that differs from most petting zoos is that you can get a little basket of veggies and feed the animals. Ben really loved that, and it was a nice change to just being able to pet or maybe brush goats. There was a big area with loads of bunnies and guinea pigs, which was hands-down Ben's favorite. They were small enough to pick up and hold, and there were tons of them. And they were huge--I'm guessing because of the constant food. Whatever--B was in Heaven. It took an enormous amount of coaxing to eventually get him to leave the bunny area to see the rest of the animals.

In addition to the bunny/guinea pig area there was, of course, the dirt patch with goats and a few sheep. Always a fan favorite.

There were also horses, ponies, cows, llamas, a donkey, an emu, turkeys, chickens, and possibly others that I didn't notice. Most of those you could pet and/or feed through the fence, but you couldn't run among them like the goats and bunnies, which makes sense. Ben didn't care about these guys as much, probably because he couldn't manhandle and harass them.

Finally, there was a little train to ride and pony/horse rides, which Ben super loved and did by himself, which was really fun for us to see. He's done a little mall train ride by himself before, but reluctantly, and he's done a horse-ride before with me walking next to him. But these he gleefully did independently. My baby is growing up! Someone hold me.

The Journey: Shockingly easy and short. Just a quick trip down the 5, and it's just a couple of minutes off the freeway, which I like. Parking tip: There is a parking lot, although I use that term very loosely. It's a patch of gravel that fits maybe 20 cars. My recommendation is to park on the street; the parking lot was a little challenging to get in and out of.

The Price: $6 for adults, $5 for kids; $2 for a basket of food for the animals; $4 each for the train ride and pony rides. All small numbers, but if you really want to do the whole shabang, it ends up being a bit on the pricey side, especially considering that while it's fun, it's not much. We did everything, including a wardrobe change, in less than 90 minutes. Sure, $30ish isn't much for a family of three to enjoy some time at the petting zoo together. But considering your "admission" price essentially allows you to pet some goats and bunnies and that's it--everything else costs more money--I feel like maybe that $6 was more money than I'd originally been thinking. But still--it's a pretty cheap thrill.

The Highlights: I think the best part for us was that there were more options than just goats to pet and play with. Ben's favorite, by a long shot, was the bunnies. So much so, in fact, that he cried when we left, not because we were leaving, but because he wanted one and we didn't take one home with us. He seriously talked the whole way home about how much he wanted "a bunny in our house." He liked the guinea pigs, too, but seriously, I grew up with those--never again. He also really loved the horse ride.

The Downsides: The biggest drawback for me was the bathroom situation. There weren't bathrooms. There were three outhouses. Now, I'm a small-town mountain girl who moved to the beach. I'm no stranger to outhouses. This is something I probably should have asked when we first arrived, seeing as I've got a newly potty-trained almost-three-year-old in tow. But I didn't think to ask because I just assume that a business that caters to the preschool crowd and has a website and takes credit and debit cards would have a restroom. Nothing extravagant, but something. Part of what went down was my own fault for not asking about the bathrooms to begin with, and for getting so caught up in Ben's excitement that I forgot to ask him if he needed to go. But seriously--there was no indication on the website that the only "bathrooms" were three outhouses in the corner of the parking lot (which meant actually leaving the petting zoo to use them and relying on the cashiers to recognize us so we could get back in, since we didn't get tickets or stamps or anything). And the website clearly states they cater to toddlers and preschoolers, who are high-maintenance potty-ers. There was a random diaper changing table right next to the bunny corral, which I thought was kind of weird. That made sense once I discovered the lack of restroom. At any rate, while we were walking to the front to get tickets for B to ride the train and the pony ride, I looked down to see wet pants. Sigh. Our first public accident. I walked him over to the front to ask where the bathrooms were, and she pointed to the outhouses. So we went to our car in the parking lot, and I changed his clothes out there. Man--I thought changing a diaper in a car was a challenge. Changing underwear is harder, in part because it requires standing up, which an underwear-wearing kid is much taller than a diaper-wearing infant. Anyway, we got it all taken care of and enjoyed the rest of our time. But it was inconvenient.