I can’t believe last week ended November and started December. Before we know it Christmas and New Year’s will be here and gone. The week for the most part was pretty quiet. I did get some of my outdoor lights up, but will share photos once all of them are plugged in and just some winter prep completed on and around the house. Otherwise the only thing we did was the Christmas lights at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo and celebrated our Sasha Bear’s 7th birthday.
I love taking advantage of all the holiday events that Cleveland has to offer. One of our favorites, that has become a tradition is the Wild Winter Lights at the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo. I enjoy that the zoo is about more than just seeing animals. Cleveland really does a great job with this holiday event. It starts at 5:30 PM but we probably got there about 6:30 and we closed the zoo down. We were lucky enough that this past weekend was on the warm side, so if you went early enough you actually had some pretty good weather. By the time we left it had gotten pretty cold and we could see our breath. But that’s the fun of it Right?
They decorate most of the main zoo areas, have meet and greet characters and have special food areas. They have the snowman from the original Rudolph and he sings and moves. He is pretty cool. The main pavilion area has one of the main bar carts, some decorated trees, a model train, a place for the kids to write letters to Santa, Mrs. Clause and the Frozen princesses. I think I was just as excited as my niece to see them lol! We also grabbed our first round of drinks here. They had hot chocolate and hot apple cider with fireball. These are two of my favorite drinks this time of year.
You then walk that long path with lights all over up to where the tigers, bears and wolfs are. There is a beer stop as you walk up the hill towards the tiger area. I say this as the boys always hit up every beer spot there is. On the way up there in the big field they have some trees set up with music and lights. We watched it from that path as well as from up on the hill. It was the perfect spot. There are a bunch of different lit up animals around the bears and tigers. Some that were done really well. The wolf building is where the Santa meet and greet is at.
As you walk around the corner to head over the bridge toward the giraffes was this huge Santa light up sign. It was gorgeous. There was then a penguin and polar bear that were up there on my list of favorites. We walked over the bridge under these beautiful shooting star lights. There is also another hot chocolate and beer spot before walking over the bridge. They also had some specialty snacks as well.
The kids convinced most of the adults to ride the zip line which is new to the zoo this year. Everyone said the view from the top was amazing and you could see all of the lights and more. They also said it was a little cold but so worth it. I kept my feet on the ground, as there is not much I will say no to but that was one of them. I am so proud of all my nieces and nephews for all going on.
We then walked around the pond which has all silver and gold lights and an awesome tree to take photos by. They had a dj up by the carousel so we went and danced for a little bit and rode the carousel, which is free during the lights. We finished up with some of the lights coming down the hill by the elephant exhibit and visited with the Grinch and Rudolph. The Grinch was not happy to see us all happy and celebrating!
This has become one of our holiday traditions and it’s always such a good time for the kids and the adults. The lights run until January 2nd and you can walk the zoo or they have certain dates where you can drive instead. If you haven’t visited before I highly recommend this event. It is well worth it and the zoo does such a great job with the lights. This year was probably one of the best years so far.
Check out https://www.clevelandmetroparks.com/zoo/programs-events/2021/special-events/wild-winter-lights-presented-by-nopec for hours and open dates.