Marla Taviano's 52 Zoos in 52 Weeks siteWhen you work at SeaWorld, you get to meet all sorts of people. Some you connect with, even if you don't meet them in person. In this case, I recently connected with Marla Taviano, a blogger, zoo aficionado and writer. Oh, and she's a mom whose family is on a quest to visit 52 zoos in 52 weeks.
That's how I connected with Marla, when we were discussing her SeaWorld visit. Like many requests from working media, I made sure her family had tickets and forgot about her! Until the day of her visit, when I noticed a lot of chatter in the Twitter stream from park guests. Sure enough, it was Marla and family. They were having a great time.
So I asked Marla how a mom who writes about family-oriented topics got involved in her zoo quest. Here's what she had to say:
I've written four books, but they're all on marriage and parenting," Marla said in an e-mail. "I really wanted to write something that my whole family could get involved with--and something that anyone could read and enjoy. So, we embarked on this Big Quest, and I'm writing a book about our adventures--the family bonding, the great people we've met along the way (we stay with old friends and people I've met through my blog), the stunning animals we've seen and gotten to interact with, and the excitement of facing such a big challenge together.
How did she come up with this idea?
I really, really have the itch to travel the globe--an African safari, the Amazon rainforest, Australia. But we don't have the money, and we have three small children. I didn't want to wait 15 years to live this dream. So, I decided--why not start now? Today's zoos are like mini-continents. They're recreated African plains and South American rainforests and oceans brought to land. That's one way we can see the world without spending a lot of money or leaving our kids behind!
Her family has covered a lot of "continents" since they started in August 2008. Marla has reported on my hometown zoo in Cleveland-go Metroparks!-and she's been to our "sister park-zoos" at Busch Gardens Tampa and SeaWorld Orlando and plans to finish at the Columbus Zoo this August. I don't know if it's deliberate or not, but Columbus Zoo is home to the famous zoo advocate and my dear friend, Jack Hanna. An appropriate finish.
I really appreciate Marla's zoo reports and think other families will enjoy them too. Since June is officially Zoo and Aquarium Month, I urge you to take a look at Marla's reports and plan a trip to your local zoo or aquarium.
For the community, Fran.
