13. Buttonwood Park Zoo

Our thirteenth carousel hunt was a little cursed. Our plan was to round out our Cape week by hitting the Buttonwood Park Zoo in New Bedford on our way back home. We called on our way to check on the hours, only to discover that the carousel would be closed before we arrived! 

We weren't completely discouraged. There was also a carousel at the Emerald Square Mall that was sort of on our way home, so we headed there next. We arrived at the mall and wandered around, hitting every nook and cranny without turning up a carousel to ride. At the Information Desk we inquired about the missing ride, turns out, it had been dismantled and moved out of state a year prior.

It was two weeks before we had another opportunity to get to a carousel - and again we headed to the Buttonwood Park Zoo (http://bpzoo.org/). This time we were met with success! It was a muggy, hot day, but the carousel was up and running so we did that first. This carousel is fairly new, and very well-kept in a brand new building. There were all sorts of interesting and unusual animals to ride including a hummingbird, an eagle (with a fish in its claws), and a seal. The zoo is very small, but so far, it is the first place we have visited in Massachusetts that has elephants - including on the carousel (see above)!

There were numerous other new animals for us to try out that we had never seen before. Above Will tries out the hummingbird. Below you can see the hummingbird from the side:

Rory tried out the eagle - we all loved that there was a fish in his claws!

We agreed that this seal was the cutest!

Rory outside the carousel (and the zoo - hence the fence).