"2015-08-17T00:00:00"^^ . "5"^^ . . "7"^^ . . "2"^^ . "3"^^ . . "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.\n\nI 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. \n\nEverything 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.\n\nFor me, some of the highlights were:\n--elephants! I'm always a sucker for them, and Elephant Crossing lets you get very close.\n--swimming cat exhibit: because who doesn't want to see big cats swimming for their food?\n--gorillas: they have a couple male gorillas who hang out in a big outdoor exhibit in the summer months.\n--African penguins: every loves cute penguins.\n--harbor seals: you can watch them above and under water.\n--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.\n--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.\n\nGive 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.\n\nUntil 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."^^ .