I'm a huge fan of zoos and I had been itching to go to the Bronx Zoo since we moved down to New York. After almost three years, we finally made it happen (you probably already saw a few snaps over on my Instagram and in this 'Happy Hour' post). With my first PSL (pumpkin spice latte for those of you not in the know) of the season and warm, sunny weather, it was the perfect day for the zoo. A few things to keep in mind for those of you wanting to make a visit to the Bronx zoo-

-There is street parking but it appeared questionable so in my opinion the zoo parking lot is worth the $15 splurge.

-You can NOT go in and out of the zoo so make sure you bring everything you need from your car (Mr. RC's backpack came in handy for this one).

-We didn't go into any of the special exhibits or stop for lunch and still took about 5 1/2 hours to get through the zoo, so make sure you arrive early.

-Speaking of special exhibits, they all cost extra money, FYI!

-Wear really comfortable shoes...like really, really comfortable.

-Heading to the zoo is certainly no budget friendly activity, but on the bright side, they let you bring in your own food. We brought water, snack mix, toast with peanut butter, fruit and granola bars. Seeing that most of the zoo's food options were fried and over-priced I'm really glad we went the brown-bag route and I would definitely recommend others to do the same. They did have good ice-cream cones though :)

{All photos taken by Mr. RC, who I'm pretty sure should be photographing for National Geographic, but maybe I'm just biased ;) }