Last week, I found myself with some down time between studying and work. So I called up a gal pal of mine to see if she wanted to get out of the apartment for an hour or so. It was getting decently late at night and I knew the event I wanted to go to was going to be closing relatively soon. But we decided to make a run of it anyways!

Now there are many zoos throughout the country that do their own versions of “zoo lights” and they tend to be similar, while each being unique. I have been to the Chicago Lincoln Park Zoo “Zoo Lights” several times before and always loved it. So I decided to see what the National Zoo here could offer.

You can walk in off the street or park and walk up from one of several parking spots. And immediately, you are met with several paths with overarching lights.

Holiday lights and colorful decorations always cheer me up. Especially after all the work going into finals and the end of the semester.
    
So we walked inside the main entrance building to check out what they had in store. And what do you know, they had a little bar set up!

So we grabbed a seasonal cocktail and walked into the main room. There were displays for children to look at and play with. We were more interested in checking out the gingerbread house competition. There were various categories for people to enter but the theme was a Small Mammal Christmas. The houses were pretty impressive!

We hopped back outside to meander under the lights and check out the displays.

There was a really fun looking tubing slide set up we had wanted to go down. But when we went to go buy tickets, they had already stopped selling them. But doesn’t it look fun?!

Unfortunately, there weren’t animal exhibits open this late. Many of the areas were roped off and the public denied access. This was a bummer to say the least. I guess I’ll have to come back another time!