A great way to spend a day off with the family is at the Zoo. Luckily, we have the Sacramento Zoo. There are several different activities and attractions available. The Zoo is great for the whole family because there is something for everyone.

           Let’s start off discussing the star the show, the animals of course! While, I won’t discuss every animal, you can go to the website for that; I will briefly talk about a few of them. The Zoo has many of the classic animals that you would expect from a good Zoo. They have chimpanzees and orangutans. The monkeys are hard to see, as they stay off to the side of their exhibit sleeping for much of the day, but if you stop by at their 1200 noon lunch time, they will be up and eating. They also have a really good giraffe exhibit, where there is an elevated platform to view the giraffes. From this platform they even let visitors hand feed the giraffes! Then of course they have lions, tigers, and leopards, but they are sometimes hard to see. They tend to sleep during the day, and are barely visible behind rocks. There are many other animals; these are just some of the ones that are most interesting to me. If you want a full listing, check out the Sacramento Zoo website.

The Zoo has several attractions available. The following attractions require and additional fee. There is a mini train ride that will take children and their guardians through the park. There is a rock climbing wall. There is a carousel with many different animals to ride. There is also a free attraction; the new playground. This play ground has picnic tables which I like to rest at, while I let my 2 year old play.

          Another thing to talk about is the food situation. The Zoo has a couple of snack bars and a restaurant on site to feed hungry patrons. It has standard fast food type of fare. It’s not too expensive, but it’s also not cheap either. A really cool thing the Zoo allows is for visitor to bring in outside food, so you can have a picnic at the park. They have plenty of picnic tables available. I, however, like to go across the street from the zoo to William-Land Park to enjoy my lunch. This made easy, because the Sacramento Zoo allows for re-entry to the park.

          The Zoo has fair pricing at $15.00 per adult, and $10 per child, but I think the best deal is their memberships. I think the best deal is the family membership, at $135, that gets a family of 6 into the zoo unlimited times for a year. It is loosely enforced, so I bring my nieces and nephews in for free often. There are several other membership offers that might better suit your needs so check out their membership offer page.

The Sacramento Zoo has a lot to offer the whole family. It has several good attractions. It has can be very economical entertainment when purchasing yearly memberships and bringing your picnic lunch. So enjoy this great area attraction next time you have some free time.

           For most of my life, when it got hot outside, I had no problem staying indoors. I like watching TV, working on the computer, and reading. I would simply just go out after sunset. Staying indoors becomes a problem though when you have a child. I feel like it is unhealthy both physically and mental for children to stay indoors, and the Sacramento region can stay very hot for weeks at a time during the summer. So, when searching for some indoor activity to do, I found the indoor ice skating rink, Skatetown, just about 2 miles from my house in Roseville.

           I have passed by the ice skating rink many times, but since I don’t care much for ice skating, I never really paid much attention. But in the quest to find good indoor activities for my son, I have reconsidered this place. So I went to their website to find out what they offered for family fun.

           I was pleasantly surprised to find out that there are activities for most members of every family. You must be at least 3 years old to skate. They have a special place, that’s cordoned off on the ice, for small children. Even if you have a child younger than 3, as long as they can sit up on their own, you can rent an ice sled and pull them along on the ice. I didn’t even know such a thing existed! I had never seen such a thing, even though I lived in Upstate New York for 6 years as a child. There is even allow wheelchairs on the ice, and give away free ice shoe rental for the person required to push a disabled individual on the ice. If you are not that good at ice skating they still have solution. They provide free skating assistive devices, as they humorously call them, which are simply buckets that can be stacked until they are waist high.

         There several guided activities and groups to join, if that is something in which your family is interested. There are basic learn to ice skate courses for all age groups. There are figure skating classes for certain age groups. There are also recreational ice hockey leagues to join for children and adults. If you are interested in the non-structured skate time a.k.a free skating times, make sure to check out their website for the time slots that are available. Also, check out their website to find information on any classes or groups in which you are interested.

         I never knew that Skatetown offered so much for the whole family. This place is great to go year round, but especially days when it’s too hot to do a lot of outdoor activity. It’s certainly better than letting your child stay in watching TV. Ice skating is great fun, great exercise, and can be mentally stimulation for very small children. Check them out!