Love free family day trips? We had a great time at the Asheboro Zoo last weekend! Our Baby B is one and was old enough to see and enjoy most of the animals. He smiled when the giraffes strolled around and laughed when the sea otter twirled in the water. I really enjoyed seeing the two baby gorillas (Apollo and Bomassa) who were both born last August. The Asheboro Zoo is about 1 1/2 hours from Charlotte or Raleigh, North Carolina but it’s worth the drive. This zoo is very open and spacious. There are 500 acres so there is some more walking for visitors than in a city zoo. There is greater distance between the exhibit areas than you may be used to but this allows the animals to have large areas to roam and gives a more peaceful, natural feel to the entire park. There are two continents that you can explore, Africa‘s grassland and North America’s Arctic coast. You can park at either end and walk the entire park or take a tram or bus from one end to other. We arrived at the park around noon and were able to walk the entire park before it closed at 5 pm, and that included stopping for lunch and time to play at the kids’ park. We brought our lunch, although there were places to buy food. I think spring is a great time to visit since it was warm but not too hot. I recommend it for everyone!
The first animals Baby B saw were giraffes. He loved them!
Then we saw an old elephant.
We also saw some baboons!
We met a playful river otter.
We made time for lots of play at the very cool kids’ park.
And then we met more animals!
Just as we were leaving we saw the baby gorillas!
We had a great time and look forward to going again soon!
Forcing the Bloom 
April 17, 2013 at 8:00 am
Looks awesome! Is that in eastern or western NC?
April 17, 2013 at 2:03 pm
More towards the east part of the state but not all the way to the coast. Very beautiful!
April 17, 2013 at 8:04 am
Nice blog, it had been awhile. I see Boaz had on his clogs. I liked the pictures. Frank Gilman Date: Wed, 17 Apr 2013 03:38:09 +0000 To: gilmanfrank@hotmail.com
April 17, 2013 at 2:05 pm
I’ve been working a little more, which makes less time for blogging. Oh, well. We love those clogs! Perfect for summer – easy to put on too.
April 17, 2013 at 9:02 am
Free? Maybe for you, but the rest of us had to pay.
-Ben Gilman
April 17, 2013 at 2:06 pm
It’s the value of family bonding, dear. 🙂