Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Zollman Zoo at Oxbow Park

With the cooler weather this week, I thought it would be a good time to finally take my kids to Zollman Zoo. From their website:

[The zoo] house's over 30 species of wild animals native to Minnesota. Many of the zoo creatures have physical injuries that have rendered them non-releasable, while others are surplus zoo animals from other facilities...The zoo offers children and adults alike the opportunity to observe wild animals that are native to Minnesota in a small, country zoo setting.

We had a great experience. I liked the smaller size; we took our time and still saw all the animals (some twice). It is also more rugged and outdoorsy (no carousel rides, food vendors, or gift shops). There is a lot of shade and grassy space for running around. Yet no one is going to get lost at this place. My son especially loved feeding grass to the goats. Zollman Zoo is free (!), open from 10 a.m.-4 p.m. daily, and located within Oxbow Park (definitely need to do more exploring here and maybe camping sometime too) at 5731 County Rd 105 NW in Byron (about ten minutes west of Rochester).

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