Red River Zoo

The Red River Zoo of Fargo calls itself a "world-class, state of the art wildlife habitat." This might be a bit of a stretch. It's a small, regional zoo, with most of the animals native to the surrounding area. Still, it is wonderful to have a zoo in our town, even if it looks out onto the interstate.

Some great features of the Red River Zoo include:

• Lots of shaded, sheltered areas to escape the "heat" (heat being completely relative compared to many other places).
• Reasonable prices; adult admission is $7, children under 14 are $4, and kids under 2 are free. Animal feed still costs a quarter, and a carousel ride is $1. Even the concessions are quite fair; I paid $5 for a soft pretzel, ice cream, and bottled water.
• Oh, yes, the carousel! They give you a nice, long ride on a tremendous pony-filled carousel.
• When I was there, they had free face painting for the kiddies.
  
• Educational offerings for children, including overnight adventures.
• The Barnyard is a hands-on area; in some places you can get right in the pen with the animals.
• Very nice animal habitats and exhibits. My daughter enjoyed watching the meerkats most of all.
  
• The staff and volunteers are incredibly friendly, helpful, and knowledgeable. I cannot say enough about that!

The downsides:

• The zoo is hard to find, if you are not yet familiar with that part of town. We took quite a few wrong turns before we ended up on a curvy road that eventually went by some camels. A-ha!
• The zoo is not stroller friendly. I found this to be a real hassle, as my daughter isn't walking yet and the stroller is how she gets around. In fact, they even rent out wagons so you can pull your kids along. But with quite a few pavilions with double doors (i.e., you have to go through two sets of doors to get inside), it was a struggle with the stroller. If there was a staff member around, they were quick to hold the door. But with tons of people pushing strollers, it would be nice to have electronic doors or handicap accessible buttons.

The Red River Zoo is not the only place to see exotic (and regional) animals. There are some other zoos in the region, all offering different attractions and exhibits.

• Paul Bunyan's Animal Land. The only one on this list that I've been to, and it is outstanding for getting close up to the animals. Located in Bemidji, Minnesota, it's more like being in a small forest amid gentle deer and goats than watching the animals from behind a pane of glass. Except for the tigers. They stay behind the glass. ; )
• Chahinkapa Zoo. This zoo is about an hour south of Fargo in Wahpeton, North Dakota.
• The Dakota Zoo is a few hours west of Fargo in the capitol city of Bismarck, North Dakota.
• The Minnesota Zoo is east four to five hours in the Twin Cities. They have a tremendous variety of animals and exhibits.

The Red River Zoo is associated with several blogs. They have one devoted to their porcupines, red pandas, red squirrel, and wolves. Lots of cute pictures; check them out!