If you’ve been following my travels you know that I love a good zoo, and have visited a lot. Honestly I try to visit any zoo that I come across during my trips no matter how big or small. I’ve seen some really amazing ones and others definitely needed a bit of TLC.

On a recently trip to Jacksonville Florida I had a bit of free time before my appointment and figured why not check out the zoo, and am I ever happy I did.

The layout of the zoo was nice. One of my biggest pet peeves is when you find dead ends and have to turn around and retrace your steps. This was a nice flow to it, and I felt that it was very easy to experience all their exhibits easily.

Even the pathways throughout the zoo were nice, clean and well manicured. I always like these raised wooden walkways, I think it may be because they remind me of the famous Jersey Shore Boardwalks.

One of the exhibits I came across that kind of surprised me was their Stingray Lagoon. I think these are great little attractions, and of course a guest and kid favorite. It just seems that these are more common at aquariums than a zoo, but I’m not complaining.

Of course the zoo had to have the obligatory Florida section showcasing many different types of local animals, reptiles, snakes and more. I couldn’t resist visiting with this pretty big gator.

I eventually came a cross a beautiful raised covered platform that offered a nice close up view of the giraffes. During specific times of day they offer guests the option to feed them. This was definitely once of the nicest giraffe experiences I’ve even come across at a zoo.

By this time we had visited most of the zoo, and I came across this Jaguar area that did have some big cat habitats, but also some dining locations and plenty of outdoor seating.

On the day I visited most of these eateries were closed, but I did find tucked away near the door to one of the restaurants was a pressed penny machine.

This was a nice looking pennycollector style machine and it was only $0.50 to press plus I was able to use my own pennies. It’s crazy to think these are still available since we are so used to seeing the newer preloaded machines. The designs were of various animals from the park, and I always like that the name of the zoo is included.

It was getting a little late in the day and I was going to have to leave soon. There was still one last penny machine I was looking for and was informed it was back up near the entrance to the zoo.

Sure enough near the entrance / exit there is a nice gift shop called Mombasa Import / Export shop. To the right side of this shop was a counter where you could purchase photos from your visit to the zoo.

When I inquired about the machine with the staff near the photo counter they pointed to this sad looking machine behind them. It had been flipped around because they said too many people had continued to try and use it even thought it was broken. They told me the vendor was scheduled to come out and fix it but they didn’t know when that would be. It’s always a bit disappointing when this happens but it’s part of the hobby and we just have to roll with it. I ended my visit to the zoo but our story doesn’t there.

I waited a few weeks before reaching out to the zoo with an envelope containing a letter, and enough coins to press a set. In my note I tried to explain as best I could which machine and designs I was interested in, and included a self-addressed stamped envelope for them to return the coins. It did take almost a month and I had pretty much given up on them when all of a sudden my envelop had returned and was filled with the pennies I had missed. The staff member was even nice enough to include a photo of the machine back in operation so I could share it with everyone.

This zoo really blew me away, it was gorgeous, clean and the staff was unbelievably helpful not just during my visit but also afterwards with getting the missing pennies. I can’t wait to go back for another some time in the future, and maybe we will even find some new pennies at that time. Keep on Pressing!

---