Since childhood I have always loved a trip to the zoo, so when we travel with our children we often look for a local zoo to explore. While in Chicago we visited the Lincoln Park Zoo. Chicago has two zoos, but the Lincoln Park Zoo is free and open to the public 365 days a year.
The Lincoln Park Formal Garden out front of the zoo gates is one of Chicago's oldest existing gardens. The grounds are beautiful and a great place to take a break, enjoy a picnic or just sit on a blanket and watch the kids run and play.
Everyone's welcome, just walk right in the gates are open. How cool is that? The Lincoln Park Zoo is a real gem in the city of Chicago. I was totally blown away by how incredibly beautiful the grounds were. It's very well maintained, landscaped and clean. The animals look to be well taken care of and their living quarters aren't over crowded or cramped.
Don't forget to grab a map to explore the 35-acre zoo founded in 1868, it's one of the oldest zoos in North America. Housing more than 1,100 animals across approximately 200 different species.
Our first stop was the Pritzker Family Children's Zoo, where the two youngest children loved exploring the Tree Canopy Climbing Adventure and watching the North American River Otters chase each other through the under water viewing window.
From the moment we walked through the gates we could see some of the most magnificent creatures up close. One of the highlights for us was seeing the big three: lions, tigers and bears...oh my!
 |
Black Bear chillin.
|
 |
| Male and female lions relaxing in the sun! |
 |
Tiger with his eyes fixed on us.
|
We decided to eat lunch at the Park Place Café; which offered something for everybody's taste buds including Mexican, Italian, sandwiches, burgers, fries and more.
What we ate:
 |
| Nacho salad with grilled chicken |
 |
| Chicken Alfredo with garlic bread |
 |
| Spaghetti and meatballs |
The children were quite excited to have so many options to choose between. The portions were large enough to share, which helps save a few bucks when traveling with kids. For a zoo food court, the food quality was pretty good and cost around $8 each. My daughter says, "it's the best food she's ever eaten at a zoo!"
More Animals:
 |
| Amur Leopard |
 |
| Dwarf Crocodile |
 |
| The Flamingo Island |
 |
| Polar Bears at the Walter Family Arctic Tundra |
 |
| Indoor Giraffes at the Regenstein African Journey |
The Nature Boardwalk:
We took a minute to soak in the city skyline while visiting the nature boardwalk on our way to the farm.
The Farm in the Zoo:
The kids loved hanging out at the Farm-in-the-Zoo. It was really cute and a great experience for them to get a little bit of the country in the heart of the city.
 |
| Goats |
 |
| This is one big bunny. |
We visited a working dairy barn. The children were a little upset because we had just missed our opportunity to see the cow milking process, but we did get pretty close to these two beauties below.
The main barn has multiple interactive play stations and hands-on activities including a chicken hatchery and a theater.
The egg hatchery was my favorite, I could sit and watch the baby chicks for hours.
We spent the whole day at the zoo and I must say, it's one of the nicest and cleanest zoos I've ever been to. I'm telling you, if we lived closer you would find me and the kids at the zoo just about every other week. I always find zoos to be relaxing and great place to just hang out with the kids sightseeing, reading and learning about all the different animals. Going to the zoo is an awesome opportunity to sneak in extra reading time for the kids too.
We didn't get to see the entire zoo during this visit, but we will defiantly return in the very near future!
This is not a sponsored post, just my thoughts!
Check out more from our trip to Chicago:
Review: Chicago Waffles
Garrett Popcorn Shop
American Girl Place - Chicago
Review: Dylan's Candy Bar - Chicago
Review: Devil Dawgs - Chicago
Visiting Navy Pier - Chicago
No comments:
Post a Comment