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| - I found myself in Cleveland for a few days this summer, and had a couple of chances to explore the city on my own. On day two, I took myself to the zoo.
I got a little bit of a weird look for buying just one adult ticket-- are grown-ups not supposed to like animals?! Other than that, this zoo was amazing, and I had a fantastic time. The place is enormous; my FitBit told me I walked over four miles while I explored, so plan accordingly.
Everything was very clean, including the bathrooms, and I loved all of the exhibits. You can tell that the animals are well taken care of, and that they've done a good job giving them as much room to roam as possible, with both indoor and outdoor areas in most exhibits.
For me, some of the highlights were:
--elephants! I'm always a sucker for them, and Elephant Crossing lets you get very close.
--swimming cat exhibit: because who doesn't want to see big cats swimming for their food?
--gorillas: they have a couple male gorillas who hang out in a big outdoor exhibit in the summer months.
--African penguins: every loves cute penguins.
--harbor seals: you can watch them above and under water.
--grizzly bear: go at feeding time if you can-- gives you a chance to see the bears stand up, so you can see how huge they are.
--Monkey Island: the Colobus monkeys live on an island separated from visitors by a moat, which gives them some seclusion from us and a chance to have something similar to their natural habitat.
Give yourself plenty of time to explore-- I was here for well over 3 hours, and that was without kids in tow. There are plenty of shaded benches if you need to give your feet a quick break, and decent snack options as well, including a Ben & Jerry's by Waterfowl Lake. Tickets were reasonably priced considering how much there is to explore, and parking was plentiful and free.
Until this trip everything I knew about Cleveland was from "30 Rock," but this city has some awesome things. I'd happily go back! Especially to the zoo.
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