Miller Park Zoo, Bloomington

Our family has become zoo fanatics since welcoming our daughter into the world less than two years ago.  For the past two summers we have become members of the Scovill Zoo in Decatur.  This means we provide a donation to the zoo which allows for countless zoo visits.  Another perk to the Scovill Zoo pass is that there are reciprocal zoos that offer discounts to those with a Scovill Zoo pass.

A rainy day in May we decided to try out the reciprocal benefit of our zoo membership and head north to Bloomington’s Miller Park Zoo.  We had heard great things about the zoo and wanted to check it out ourselves.

Miller Park Zoo is very similar to Scovill Zoo.  It is also a smaller, compact location, but there were many new animals that we were able to see on this trip.  When we entered the zoo we went through the enclosure that housed the wallabies, and kangaroos.  Only a small fence separated the animals from zoo patrons.  Anderson was fascinated with how close she was able to get to the animals relaxing in the grass. 

Monkeys, reindeer and sea lions were also on our stops before the rain hit.  Luckily the zoo has a great building where a rainforest is housed, and the tigers, snow leopards and sun bear were kept.  We were able to stay dry, while visiting these interesting animals and exhibits.

By the time we waited out the rain, and visited our favorite animals our toddler’s attention span for the zoo was running short.  Luckily we had circled back to the front of Miller Park Zoo, rounding out our experience.  

Because we had a hungry girl on our hands we were not able to explore the park across the street from the zoo.  It had a great playground, and even a small splash pad.  Paddle boats, walking paths and pretty lake views are also all part of the Miller Park experience.  On our next trip we will plan on taking advantage of all of the other great aspects of the park that the rain, and hungry toddler, kept us from on our first trip.