I've been to a lot of zoos growing up and now having kids of my own. By far my favorite is the North Carolina Zoo in Asheboro. It's not that far of a drive, I don't think anyway. The zoo is very clean and safe with plenty to see and do. It's a very large zoo so be prepared for walking. They do have trams to take you to different entrances in the park. I hate going to a zoo where the animals are in enclosures, and you wont find that here. The animals here are in what they call "natural habitat" philosophy where the exhibits resemble the habitats to which they would be found in the wild. The North Carolina Zoo was the first American zoo to do this. Currently the zoo's animals have over 500 acres to roam on and there's an additional 900 acres for future developments. So you can see that animals have lots of running space and you will have tons of walking to do. The price to get in is really cheap and kids under 2 are free. They offer memberships for a great price too, we paid around fifty dollars to be able to get into the park for free all year which is worth it to us since we go so often.
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