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Here in Massachusetts I got wind of some great opportunities as part of Free Fun Fridays, where several local attractions provide free admission for the day. I looked ahead in my calendar, coordinated with a friend, and decided we’d take Gavin to the Stone Zoo in Stoneham, MA for his first trip ever to the zoo.

The zoo opened at 10 and we had planned to get there around 11 a.m. trying to lag a bit behind the craziness of the morning traffic commute, full well knowing that it would probably be “crowded.” What we didn’t anticipate was that traffic would be backed up 2 miles away, just getting off the highway. After we safely made it off the highway, it was a one lane road getting to the zoo, which ultimately took us an hour to drive in bumper to bumper traffic. By this point it was noon and Gavin was screaming “out, out” from his car seat.

We probably should have taken a clue from the droves of people parking on residential side streets a mile from the zoo that parking would not be available in the main lot.  Instead we decided to keep going with the hopes that since the Stone Zoo is not all that big, fingers crossed some people might have decided to leave early. When we reached the entrance, a few cars in front of us were granted permission to enter the parking lot, but we were instructed by people waving their arms in large circular motions to keep driving. We drove about 1/2 mile past the zoo until we could turn around because there was a large island in the middle of the road, preventing this any sooner. We weren’t actually sure if there might have been another parking lot up the road, but I’m pretty sure this wasn’t the case.

We drove past the zoo in the opposite direction, sitting in traffic again, and waved goodbye, deciding that we’d find a local playground for Gavin to run around for a bit, even more annoyed that we could have saved 3 hours doing this in the first place or planning another excursion all together. I’m definitely sure my friend and I were more disappointed that we couldn’t experience Gavin’s excitement and reactions to the different animals. I’m also pretty sure, thank god, he was just tired of being in his car seat and couldn’t understand the disappointment. My thoughts jumped to all the other kids sitting in traffic with their parents as we drove away, who were old enough to understand that the zoo just would’t be possible that day.

So I learned a few valuable lessons along the way this weekned.

1. Free pretty much will never equate to fun, especially if you can’t even find parking to get in the door.

2. Next time, I’ll try to get a pass from my local library if I want to save money.

3.  When Gavin’s old enough to understand where we are going, I might just not ever really tell him where we are going until we get there, because I couldn’t bear to bring that much disappointment to a child.