Memorial Park

Memorial Park

If you find yourself with some free time and no money, take a trip to Memorial Park. Entrance is free and visitors can check out a wildlife zoo and walk the Fred E. Birchmore Nature Trail.

The zoo features wildlife indigenous to the United States. It features pheasants, bears, alligators, owls, bald eagles, bobcats and more! All of the enclosures for the animals are open enough to get a good look into. Each exhibit features education plaques that talk about the history and biological information of the animal. There is also a reptile room run by volunteers that you can go into to touch the creatures. Unfortunately they didn't have enough volunteers to run it while we were there. Here are some pictures of my favorite animals from the zoo:

The bears are mine, and most everyone else's, favorite exhibit. There are three black bears that roam the enclosure. They have lots of room to run around and play. I fell in love with the guy above who was rolling around like a dog trying to get comfortable for a nap.

After exploring the zoo, we checked out the trail. We were expecting it to be a short trail, but it took us 30-45 minutes to walk the whole thing. The trail winds around the park and runs along side residential areas. It is a great alternative to more trafficked trails. The best feature was the extremely long and tall stone wall that was built by hand by Fred E. Birchmore. It is beautiful and helps make a boundary between the natural trail and the houses next to it.

This wall is super tall! For some perspective, he is 6ft 5 inches! 

The zoo is great for young kids and college students alike. For the low low price of free, it makes for a fun afternoon outdoors.

Memorial Park Recommendations:

• If you plan to walk the trail, wear tennis shoes! (Flip flops were not a good choice for me)
• Take pictures:)
• Give yourself at least 45 minutes for the zoo, and 2 hours if you plan for the zoo and trail
• Don't just walk by each enclosure. Take the time to check everything out and read the plaques, you can learn some interesting stuff