Minnesota Zoo

Yesterday, I made to yet another zoo I've never before visited!  This time it was the Minnesota Zoo, which is located in greater Minneapolis.  Specifically, Apply Valley.  We are in the great city of Minneapolis visiting friends. Well, I'm visiting friends.  DS is visiting a conference, and so he is staying busy doing other things.  It's always a lot of fun for me when I get to experience friends' local zoos, and lucky for me, Beth and Brian were happy to tag along even though it was hot.

This particular zoo does not have an amazing selection of animals.  However, the exhibits for the animals they do have are just fantastic.  The grizzly bears has geysers.  Every animal there had just a massive amount of space that they were often hard to find.  It must be a really nice place for them, which makes me happy.  Fun zoo facts: the decor is themed around Dr. Suess; first zoo I've been to with a dolphin!  Unfortunately, the zoo closed and we were scooted out before we got to see the Medtronic Minnesota Trail, which had a wolverine and a cougar.  This probably wouldn't have happened if I hadn't spent forever entranced by the coral reefs.

So a quick note about these photos.  Apparently the animals thought it would be fun to keep their butts towards the onlookers, so the three of us made it into a game.  Goal: Take as many butt photos as possible.  We were quite successful, though for your viewing pleasure, I tried to throw some good photos in here as well.

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Smithsonian National Zoo

Here's what I remember* about this zoo: it was hot and full of screaming children.   Apparently we attended during elementary school field trip day.  I also remember the "O-line", which is a cool way for the Orangutans to get around their various exhibits, but we did not see them actually use it.

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*Written 8/5/11

San Diego Zoo

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I am so glad we got to see this zoo before leaving California! I was a little daunted by the price of admission ($74 for two people!!), but I can honestly say it was the best zoo I've ever attended. Most zoos aren't bad, and usually have one or two exhibits that are cool with the rest being passable. With this zoo, practically everything we saw was well thought out and seemed like a cool place for the animal to live. There were cool features like the multi-level monkey exhibits, where you could take any number of trails and ended up three stories above the ground, each letting you see something a little different. And don't even get me started on the sheer number of animal species. I can also say that there had to be a ton of people there, but it never felt like it. There were even places where we were more or less alone. It really blows all the other zoos we've seen to date out of the water.

This zoo was so big that we were there from 9:30am-2pm, without dawdling at any one exhibit like I've been known to do, and there were still things we didn't have time to see. If you go, I highly recommend getting there when they open and giving yourself the whole day. You may not need it, but you might as well make sure you're getting the most zoo for your money.  My only regret is that I failed to take a spare battery for my camera, so I tried to make it last by only taking photos of the things I personally loved the most.  Really, this zoo will not disappoint.

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Los Angeles Zoo

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Unforeseeable circumstances have postponed our trip to the San Diego zoo. However, with the LA zoo still on the list of zoos I need to visit, we decided to go there as it was much closer and decidedly better on the budget.

I have to say, for $13/ticket and free parking, this zoo was a steal! The weather was perfect (apparently 80, but no humidity, a slight breeze, not a cloud in the sky), the crowds were only bad near the most popular animals, and the lines went surprisingly quickly. Even in the crowded areas, people didn't linger overly long, or get pushy. Kids were not bumping into you, or climbing the railings, or screaming at the animals. Even when we felt the need to get away from the crowds, I didn't feel like killing anyone.

The absolute best part though? The babies!! I mean, we saw a baby koala (OH MY GOD!), wallabies, twin pigs, colobus monkey, gorilla, twin snow leopards, giraffes. Granted, some of them were more along the lines of young than brand new, but they were all so ADORABLE.

Also, kettle corn.

Lincoln Park Zoo

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First of all, apologies are required regarding the quality of these photographs. I was using a new camera I had gotten for Christmas. I have learned a valuable lesson here, namely that megapixels are not nearly as important as optical zoom for my style of photography. Most of these photos look like someone tried desperately to color stills from a bad security camera...

Aside from that, this zoo was a lot of fun.

Knoxville Zoo

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The Knoxville Zoo in Knoxville, TN was one of the more expensive zoos we had been to, with tickets over $15 each plus paid parking. It wasn't a huge zoo either, but it was obvious once we were inside that they put their money to good use. This zoo had some of the best exhibits we've ever seen. The animals had lots of space, and everything was designed to optimize both visitor viewing and animal privacy. You might think those two things are mutually exclusive, but the Knoxville Zoo seemed to prove that what the other zoos lack is creativity. And perhaps high ticket prices.

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*Written 2/15/2010

Riverbanks Zoo

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*Written on 02/14/2010