Denver Zoo (C.I.C.)

The Denver Zoo is our home away from home, we like to go at least once a week. It is such a great place to explore, the animals are always interesting and its always entertaining...its just a great place to be outside in the fresh air, plus all the walking you do is a great workout. For this Curious In Colorado I wanted to share my families favorite place to visit here in Colorado. 

http://www.denverzoo.org/

Of course the zoo just wouldn't be the zoo without a ton of animals. We have actually been lucky enough to feed the rhinos which was an amazing life experience! The Denver Zoo is full of some of the loveliest, exotic, beautiful and dangerous animals.  

There are so many awesome animals to see at the zoo and there are constantly new babies which I am a sucker for...they are always so cute. We seriously love all the animals but the hippos are my husband and sons favorite and the otters and elephants are mine.

There is always an animal show going on somewhere in the park and I suggest checking out as many of them as you can. They are fun and very informational.

http://www.denverzoo.org/plan-your-visit/feedings-showtimes

There are a few animal houses around the zoo that are definitely worth checking out.

The Elephant House is the newest addition to the zoo and its a great way to see the elephants and rhinos up close. There are also TVs inside that are constantly playing videos of the animals and giving you information on them.

Tropical Discovery is where you will find the snakes, lizards, fish, crocodiles and lots more creepy crawly critters!

The Pachyderm Habitat is our favorite, its not that big but this is where some of our favorite animals live...hippos and rhinos. This is also where our friend Dave works, he is the one that wrote the amazing children's book Narayani: The Unicorn Of Nepal, so getting to chat with him is an extra high light of our zoo visits.

Bird World is full of the most beautiful birds and one sneaky sloth. My family and I always play "find the sloth" when we go into Bird World because the little guy is always hiding high up in the tree tops of the last bird room. It is just an awesome building to walk through since its like walking through the jungle and the birds just walk all around you.

There is also the Lorikeet Adventure which my son loves because he gets to feed the birds, its a pretty fun experience.

There are also a lot of little activities around the zoo for the kiddos to play with or on...

Drums, a jump mat and a covered wagon with two very old ox to climb on.

My sons favorite is this mommy and baby hippo statue that he climbs up on then slides down the side of.

There are also rides to go on... 

The rides are totally reasonably priced.

The carousel is my sons favorite and it is a lot of fun. Its fun running around trying to get on the animal that you want. We go on this every time we go to the zoo, it never gets old.

There is also a mini train that goes around in a circle. I suggest going on it if you have never been on it before but we hardly ever ride it, its fun but its not that entertaining.

If you get hungry there are PLENTY of places to get food!

There is the Samburu Grille near the zoo entrance which is a cafeteria style dinning place with a pretty large selection of food and indoor seating.

Then there are a few little stands that have drinks, pop corn, ice cream, cotton candy and more.

The Brown Bear has a bit more food selection then the food stands but not as much as the Samburu Grille plus it is all outdoors.

We haven't tried the food truck yet that is next to Bird World, its pretty new, but from what I have heard they have some really tasty food.

We have however eaten at Kamala Cafe and it is good, probably our favorite place to eat at the zoo. It is Asian food and it is really good.

There is another restaurant called Northern Shores Cafe which is very similar to The Brown Bear with pizza, fries, chicken fingers and a bit more.

We will eat at the restaurants every once in awhile but what we really like to do is bring a picnic and sit in the grass area near the hippos to eat. I bought a plastic tablecloth from The Dollar Tree that makes a great picnic blanket since one side is plastic and the other is soft.

And for the adults wanting to make your zoo trip a bit more fun and interesting they now serve beer.

The zoo is constanly putting on special events such as...
Do At The Zoo, Ice Cream Social, Brew At The Zoo, Boo At The Zoo, Zoo Lights, Zoo Year's Eve and a lot lot more. We have been to Boo At The Zoo and Zoo Lights and it is such a great experience.
http://www.denverzoo.org/events

Like I said the Denver Zoo is our favorite place to visit in Colorado so of course I totally recommend it, its a must if you are visiting or living in Colorado....love!