A Young Giraffe at the San Diego Zoo

San Diego is a great vacation destination for families.  There’s plenty of things to do that will appeal to everyone in the family.  Having said that, The World Famous San Diego Zoo is about as mandatory a place to visit as there is in San Diego.  Situated in historic Balboa Park, the park is minutes from downtown and a short drive from most of the hotels in the San Diego area.

The zoo is rather large and can be seen in a variety of ways depending on the amount of time you have.  The zoo opens at 9:00 a.m. and I would suggest visiting early.  Not only do you beat the crowds that generally start arriving around 11:00 a.m., a lot of the animals are very active at this point of the day.  Later in the day, particularly in the summer heat, many of the animals lay low and you don’t get the full effect.

As I mentioned, there are plenty of ways to view the park.  There is a double-decker bus that can take you to the far reaches of the zoo and the driver will give you a guided tour of about 75% of the park.  You can upgrade your ticket to include this tour or purchase the tour once you’re inside the park.  This ticket will also allow you to take the express buses that drop you off at bus stops around the park.

If you choose to walk, keep in mind that the zoo is located on a steep hillside.  A walk to the farthest part part of the park to see the Polar Bears is a good 20-30 minute walk.  If you have small kids, I would suggest taking the bus or even the skyfari aerial tram which gives you a birds-eye view of the park while taking you to the opposite end of the park.  If you need to push the little ones, you can take your stroller with you or you can rent one from the park guest services when you enter the zoo.  You can find a detail map of the zoo here.

Flamingos are fun for every age

There are a lot of wonderful exhibits within the zoo but, in my opinion, the can’t-miss exhibits include the monkey trails, the gorilla tropics, the giraffes and elephants and, of course, the Panda exhibit.  The San Diego Zoo has one of the most successful Panda breeding programs in the world.  The Pandas have their own special exhibit and you can often see the latest born Panda before it is shipped back to China.  Of course, pink flamingos are also quite a thing to check out.

Since the zoo closes at dusk (it’s open later in the summer when it gets darker later), exploring the zoo thoroughly might take more than one day.  The zoo has two-day passes, along with other combo packages that include San Diego’s Wild Animal Park.  You can find ticket information here.

Photo: M. Henry

Capitol Blvd. in downtown Boise, Idaho

Boise, Idaho, used to have a reputation as a sleepy, boring kind of town. That’s all changed over the past twenty years as the population of the city and surrounding metropolitan area has boomed to over 600,000 people. It may be a big city now, but there’s still a part of the downtown that evokes that relaxed, smalltown feeling.

Julia Davis Park, which stretches out along the banks of the Boise River, is just a half-mile from the steps of the Idaho State Capitol Building and most of downtown Boise.  With a wide variety of sights and activities, It’s the perfect place for a family to spend a day.

Inside the 87-acre park, you can start off at the Idaho State Historical Museum or next door at the Boise Art Museum. My kids always wanted to head straight for the history, and I don’t blame them. The museum is small, but packed full of relics and displays that tell the story of Idaho’s past from prehistoric times through the pioneers coming west on the Oregon Trail and straight into the 21st century. On the grounds of the museum is a pioneer village, showing how settlers lived in the 1800′s.

Watching meerkats at Zoo Boise

From there, it’s a short walk through the park to our favorite little zoo, Zoo Boise. I used to go there regularly with my kids when they were toddlers. It’s big enough to keep an exotic assortment of animals, but small enough to see everything without wearing down the youngest members of the family.

The best part, at least according to my kids, is the extensive children’s area of the zoo. It’s where my son first came face to face with a Komodo Dragon, and my daughter first felt the tickle of a butterfly landing on her nose. There are plenty of slides, tunnels, and hands-on activities to keep kids busy for a few hours. Myself, I could just sit and watch the meerkats for most of an afternoon.

Zoo Boise has a brand new exhibit called African Plains, featuring giraffes and lions (not in the same enclosure, I hope). Other animals you’ll see at the zoo include tigers, bears, bald eagles, lemurs, and snow leopards.

There are other activities in and around Julia Davis Park, including a children’s science museum, the Idaho Black History Museum, Boise Trolley Tours, playgrounds, rose garden, paddle boats, and the Boise River Greenbelt.

MK Nature Center in Boise, Idaho

If you have any time left in your day, head on down the Greenbelt to the Morrison Knudsen Nature Center, a 4.6-acre fish and wildlife experience that features a mountain stream, waterfalls, and wetlands. There are multiple viewing windows for the kids to see how fish develop from tiny eggs into full-grown trout, whitefish, or kokanee.  You’ll even see nesting geese, turtles, beavers, and wild ducks.  The Center also has a large education building where kids can learn about all the different animals that make their home in Idaho.

There’s no better way to show the circle of life, at least in the fish world, than in a place like the MK Nature Center.  In fact, this was the first “field trip” we took our son on after he was born, and we always go back there when we make return trips to visit our old hometown of Boise, Idaho.

There’s even more to Boise’s downtown than Julia Davis Park, the Boise Greenbelt, and the MK Nature Center, but those three sites alone should keep any family fairly busy for a day or two.

All photos by Phil Corless