doodledee

Last Friday's forecast was "gorgeous, sunny and mild" and last time I checked that alone is a good enough excuse to cash in a vacation day. And seeing there's no better thing to do on your beautiful early spring day off than head down to the Zoo to see the annual Farm Babies exhibit, that's what we did. It's a fun time. They've got a bunch of baby pigs and chickens and cows and the kids get to run around and pet them and feed goats and all kinds of fun stuff. They even have tractor rides. Rock on.

Go figure, we weren't the only ones who managed to come up with the idea. The place was mobbed. Not weekend-at-the-state-fair mobbed or anything, but still crazy super mobbed when you compare it to a regular day at the zoo. Add in the fact that it's early in the season and they're not fully ready for huge crowds yet (think: bathrooms, concessions, unfinished offseason construction, etc) and it feels even worse. That said, I gotta admit they seemed to handle it pretty well.

Here are some tips for going to the Minnesota Zoo on busy summer days.

• Bring your own food and water. The food at the zoo is expensive and is just normal food court stuff. Also, the lines can be insane when it's busy. (No offense if a 20 minute wait for cold $4 onion rings is your idea of fun.) Bring a picnic in a backpack, there are tables everywhere.
• Get there early. I think they open at 9, so that's a good time to shoot for. We go on Sunday mornings during the winter and it rocks. You can sit in front of the giant fish tanks all by yourself and just zone out and watch fish and read the paper and stuff. That's probably an impossible dream during the peak summer season, but it's still worth it to beat the crowd if only to avoid the lines at the entrance.
• The dolphin show is cool. On busy days it's always going to be nutso packed. If you're only going to be there the one time, it's probably worth fighting your way in to, so plan your schedule around it. Personally, I'd just avoid it when it's super busy.
• Skip the monorail unless you're really into monorails or something. The walk around the loop is nice and it's not that long. There's a big playground thing at the halfway point – kind of out by the farm – and it's a good place to stop and regroup and have a snack.
• Bird show: mint, and surprisingly uncrowded most of the time.
• Farm babies specific: skip the cow barn, it's hot and crowded and they're just cows after all. Other stuff is neat, though. Oh, and if you have a stroller, just park it somewhere and walk around, you'll never be able to maneuver it in and out of the buildings and you'll look like a jackass if you try.

There, that should get your started. You're welcome.

Minnesota Zoo [mnzoo]
Farm Babies at The Zoo [mnzoo]