The Cameron Park Zoo in Waco

If you are looking for a day trip from Austin, or a place to stop on a cross-Texas trip, you might be interested in the Cameron Park Zoo in Waco.  This is a small but fun zoo for the kids.  We were there on a really hot day, but there was a lot of shade along the paths.  I'm glad we went in the direction that we did (starting out to the left, looking at a zoo map) because in later areas of our walk (the right side, looking at a zoo map) there were several indoor spots with aquariums or nocturnal exhibits that were air conditioned (yay).  As it got later and hotter, we were so refreshed to be able to step into the cool for a bit. 

This zoo is a good size for young children while still having some big animals to make a big impact on the little guys.  Of course, as the heat increased, some of those big animals were just napping.  The orangutan did put on a little show for us, swinging and hooting, and the giraffe and elephants were up and about.  The other thing that made this good for young kids was that there were several spots to stop and play - ropes to swing on like the orangutan, statues of komodo dragons and ponies to climb on, chimes you jump on to make ring, a tube slide through the otter pond, and a playscape area.  In some ways, the play spots were more memorable for the kids than the animals (or is this just my kids??).  Sammy chose the jumping chimes to do his first successful two-footed jump!  Hee.

The kids also really liked the wolf and coyote viewing area (where they are walking along the rocks in the third picture) - it was a little cave-like and echoed, so they all got in there and howled loud enough to raise the roof.

The only real downside to this zoo was that they didn't let you bring in a picnic lunch.  There was a restaurant but we weren't to anxious to stop and eat when naptime was quickly approaching.  We did pull some snacks our of our daiper bags and that didn't seem to be a problem.  Overall, it was a good summer day activity!