The rains came and went, came and went, came and went, and after about six weekends we finally got a couple of days where they went and didn't come back. We were ready to get out of the house and had heard that the World Wildlife Zoo & Aquarium in Phoenix was worth going to see. We loaded up, programmed the GPS and headed out.

The first animal we saw as we walked through the gates was the greeter, a handsome white swan with a "Happy to see you" smile. Throughout the day we ran into many of our old favorites, lions, tigers, panthers, ostriches and giraffes, plus a slew of animals we had never seen before.We even ran our fingers across the back of a live stingray.

When all was done we finished up with lunch next to several dozen very active and very noisy flamingos. All in all the World Wildlife Zoo & Aquarium didn't meet our expectations as we still carried memories of three weeks in Australia, but it was still an enjoyable day.