Want to visit one of the best zoos in New England? Of course you do! Speaking of New England, there are so many cool places around here and I haven’t shared nearly enough of them with you. Well that’s about to change. As the boys are getting older there is more and more we are doing and it seems like it only makes sense to share our adventures with you! 
One of the best parts of living in southern New Hampshire is that we are within a reasonable drive for a day trip to a lot of great cities. Boston, MA, Portland ME, Providence RI, & Portsmouth NH to name a few. All those cities and their surrounding areas have lots of fun things for families to do and summer is a fantastic time to explore! Whether you live in the area or are vacationing somewhere here in New England I thought it would be fun to share some of our favorite family spots with you and maybe help you uncover some new places for your family to visit. 
One of our favorite places to visit is the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, RI. There are lots of New England Area Zoos and they are all really worth the trip but this one is our absolute favorite. The zoo is laid out nicely, the grounds are clean, and it has a great selection of animals. (And a really decent lunch area I might add because as much as I would like to be the Mom who packs lunches for these types of day trips, I am not). [caption id=“attachment_9337” align=“alignnone” width=“1000”]
photo credit: (my eleven year old)[/caption] The Zoo is part of the beautiful Roger Williams Park. You could easily spend a day fishing, riding the carousel, perusing botanical gardens, riding swan boats and more in the park itself. It’s the perfect place for a family picnic. I wish I had pictures but we spent our whole day at the zoo! I told hubby we have to go back and do an overnight in Providence so we can spend one day at the park and another day at the zoo. There’s really so much to explore and the photographer in me just has to take some photographs in that park. The staff at Roger Williams Park Zoo is awesome. Every time we’ve been (and we’ve been many) at least one staff member has stopped to chat with us and tell us little stories and bits of information about the animals. This time we got all the names & family history of the giraffes. Which were, by the way, my personal favorite. 
The kids, hands down were excited to see the elephants, and if your timing is right you can even watch them giving an elephant a bath! 
The harbor seal exhibit was equally popular. In fact we had to pry the kids away so we could move on. You can actually purchase tickets for a harbor seal encounter and score a chance to feed them. We were lucky enough to catch a front row seat to a feeding and it was really cool. The kids were fascinated and begging to feed the seals one day. Feeding the seals is limited to kids ages five and up so that’s on our bucket list as soon as everyone is old enough. Although… Mr. C is turning five this summer so come to think of it maybe that would make a good birthday present for him! 
Walking amongst the kangaroos is pretty cool and the Alex & Ani Farmyard gives the kids some hands on play and a chance to interact with a few barnyard animals in their contact yard. They have a giant ant eater who is fun to watch and the kids were as fascinated by the snow leopard as they were with the seals. 
Did you know a snow leopard can jump 50 feet? I love the fun facts they learn when we visit the zoo. 
And how could I not mention the red panda? I mean really. I want to live my life as laid back as this guy. Don’t you? 
The Roger Williams Park Zoo is located about an hour outside of Boston. It’s right off the highway and easy to find. Parking is free and admission is reasonable enough that you wouldn’t feel guilty only spending a couple of hours there. We usually spend 3-4 to make it worth our drive. We eat lunch there and the kids really enjoy stopping to watch the animals. [caption id=“attachment_9342” align=“aligncenter” width=“1000”]
photo credit: (my eleven year old)[/caption] Our family loves to get out and about and we thoroughly enjoy having little treasures like this close to home. Places like the zoo just never get old. I feel like the kids see it with a new set of eyes every time we visit and really so do we. I’m looking forward to sharing more of New England’s treasures with you this summer! For the record this is NOT a sponsored post. We really love visiting the Roger Williams Park Zoo in Providence, Rhode Island and I thought it was about time to share it with you. If you ever do get the chance to visit let us know if you like it as much as we do. Until our next adventure…
A Visit To The Roger Williams Park Zoo, Rhode Island