Well it finally happened, after our past few days on Vacation we were able to see some animals and all it took was a visit to the Palm Beach Zoo and Conservation Society. It was a beautiful day, and we were looking forward to what our day had in store for us. Let’s head on inside.

A nice perk at this zoo was free parking. Coming from the Orlando area where you have to pay to park basically everywhere this was a pleasant surprise. I also purchased our tickets online in advance so we just quickly scanned in at the front and were off to our first exhibit.

The zoo was split into different quadrants and themed for the animals found in those categories. We found ourselves first in the Florida Wetlands and always enjoy visiting with some beautiful pink flamingos. As I’m sure you can assume in the “Florida” section we came across some Alligators, Bears, and a Florida Panther.

Next we entered the Topics of the Americas area with classics like the ever vocal Macaws, or the somewhat shy African Porcupine and one my favorite areas the large cats including this sleeping jaguar.

Many of the animals we came across are common in most zoos, but one thing I found a bit different here were the exhibits. They appears much more themed and detailed. Even just the paths we followed throughout had some nice designs to them and weren’t just a cement path.

We were about 2/3rd of the way through the zoo and came across this building known as Latitude 26. There was a snack bar and a set of restrooms which made for a nice little break from walking.

More importantly however this was also where I found a few machines I had been looking for. First up was a souvenir medallion machine with a sticking cabinet wrapped with images of a Tiger, Otter and a few others.

At this machine there were four designs available including a Ring-Tailed Lemur, Tiger and Flamingo. You may notice in my above photo that I only have 3 of the medallions, and unfortunately the fourth Alligator design was sold out.

One thing I will say about these medallions is they usually have really nice reverse designs and this is no different showing off an expanded logo for the zoo with cute additional details included. After coming back home I did try to mail the zoo with some money and a self-addressed stamped envelope hoping to try and get a copy to complete the set, but so far after a couple weeks I haven’t received anything back yet. I’m still holding out hope though!

Located right next to the medallion machine was the first pressed penny machine. I’m always impressed with these little wooden housings created for the machines and they seem very popular at zoos for some reason. I was able to press the full set of four designs, but as you can see from the above photo only the alligator came out in full, the others all rolled bit short cutting off some of the designs.

After our short break and a pocket full of new collected and pressed coins we continued our way through the Asia sections and eventually into The Islands. There were plenty of different monkeys, big cats and exotic birds to keep us busy looking all around as we explored. Eventually we found ourselves back where we started towards the front of the park.

There was one last pressed penny machine near a nice shaded area with some benches to rest before heading out. This machine pressed much better, and the designs included a River Otter, Florida Panther, Koala bears and Malaysian Tiger.

We did visit the gift shop before we left and my daughters insisted on some new stuffed animals. While I was at the checkout area waiting to pay I did notice they had some of the generic Zoo / Aquarium Souvenir coin albums this was listed as the Fifth Edition. Even thought I don’t use these to store my pennies, I do still collect them but I already had this one so no need for an extra.

It had been quite a day, and we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Palm Beach Zoo. The sun had certainly taken it’s toll on us and we were looking forward to heading back to our hotel for a nap and eventually some dinner followed by much needed pool time. I was disappointed to have missed out on that one medallion but hopefully it’s coming in the mail or eventually I’m sure I’ll be back to visit again. Our vacation is quickly coming to and end so stayed tuned for our last day and a few remaining elongated coins before we head back home. Keep on Pressing!

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