Kanazawa Zoo and Park

One of my fabulous friends suggested we head to a park and zoo that's located really close to our housing area. It was around a 15 minute drive from my house and was really easy to get to! We went on a Friday, and because Japanese kids are back in school, it was almost deserted. There were seriously a handful of other people there. I didn't have to worry about losing my kids because we were the only ones walking around! Parking was plentiful and was 600 yen - a flat rate for the entire time we were there (about 3.5 hours!).

The park/zoo is on a hill, so we parked at the bottom. And instead of walking allllll the way up to the entrance, we just waited beside the parking garage for a cute little zoo bus that makes trips up and down the hill. 

There were lots of pretty tulips out!

 We still had not yet entered the actual zoo portion, but there was a little gift-shop, ice-cream cafe with snacks, and a small restaurant with traditional Japanese dishes at the top of the hill. 

Once we rounded the corner by the shop and restaurant, we could either go right towards the zoo, or go left and down the hill to the park. The kids really wanted to do the roller-slides, so we headed there first. Except for parking, this play area is totally free!

Look how high she is!

She's loving every minute of it.

She wants to go again!

And is so proud of herself.

After we played for a bit, we headed to the zoo. It was crazy cheap! My kids were both free (because neither are school age - and in Japan, that means 6 years old), and my ticket was only 500 yen.

 

The entrance to the zoo was very "It's a Small World...."

The zoo itself was decent, but be forewarned - there are lots of hills. By the end of our trek through the zoo, our kids were all complaining and crying about how their legs hurt and they didn't want to walk anymore. Ha.

Look at that cute baby!

I loved this guy! He wasn't paying attention to us, so I started to whistle at him.

The he turned, and started walking over towards us!

He bobbed his head back and forth....

And was totally checking us out! I loved him!

And what do you do when your kids are crying and complaining about how they can't walk any more? You get them some ice cream, that's what.

A big thanks to my friend for taking us here today! I have a feeling we'll be going back since it was fun, cheap, and so close by!