Family Oregon activities Weekend Update

It’s a Zoo

Lisa Eirene

About Lisa Eirene Lisa lost 110 pounds through calorie counting and exercise. She swims, bikes, runs, hikes and is enjoying life in Portland, Oregon. Her weight loss story has been featured in First Magazine, Yahoo Health, Woman's Day and Glamour.com.

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7 Comments

  1. Linda T.

    Such cute pictures. What a great present.

  2. Marianne

    What a great experience. Sounded like you all had a fun time. Our Sanford Zoo is the pits. Animal Kingdom is too far and too expensive for me.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      That’s a bummer! I remember going to the zoo in Seattle and it was a great one.

  3. Vickie

    I am not sure how far it is for you, but membership changes how you can β€œdo” the zoo.

    My oldest, we went 5 days a week and walked. So instead of running/walking sidewalks or a treadmill, I did the zoo with him in a stroller for a couple years. Probably 30 minutes of fast walking, right when they opened.

    Later years, more kids, we might have done the zoo a couple times a week, but we only did one section. So maybe an hour and we were done each time. So we picked what we were going (Africa, Australia, petting/farm, etc) in advance and that is all we did.

    We also went to a lot of special events – watching feedings, watching training, behind the scenes, barn tours, doing hands on cooking/feeding, etc. Each time we only did the event which was usually a 30-40 minute thing and we left.

    Our zoo closes in the winter, but still has special behind the scenes events. Some of the most memorable ones are off season.

    We had zoo membership nonstop for many many years. My oldest is now 29, my youngest is 21, and we probably had a membership for 15-18 years straight.

    We still take kids there when we have small visitors. Or out of town visitors of any age. I would guess I average 1-2 times each summer still.

    1. Lisa Eirene

      Those are great ideas!
      We did not see everything. Part of the zoo was under constructions and closed off. We did a few parts of it but didn’t see all of it so next time we’ll do a different section. I know Logan will want to see the lions again, though. πŸ™‚

      They have a carousel and a train ride, too. Logan will LOVE that.

      I wore my heart rate monitor and in 90 minutes of walking/chasing after Logan, I burned 300 calories. It was crazy!

  4. emmaclaire

    So much fun!! The membership will make it so nice to be able to go back as the season’s change, etc. I remember my daughter’s favorite thing the first time she went to Woodland Park Zoo was the rocks at the Jimi Hendrix memorial – I thought it would be the elephants for her, too! When she was old enough to really like the aquarium, though, she brought a little notebook with her and took “notes” of everything. Only fitting she’s getting her degree in biology and volunteering every weekend at the Oregon Aquarium πŸ™‚

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