Adirondack Animal Land

We have gone to Sacandaga Lake for our family vacation every year since I was born. So, every year we have passed by Adirondack Animal Land. As their website claims "The largest ZOO in upstate New York and voted the area's #1 Tourist attraction 3 years in a row!" Granted, it is in Fulton County, so there really isnt much else to do there. I think their only competition would be "Meatland" which is off of Rt. 30. I am not making that up. It actually exists. But, Adirondack Animal Land has beat Meatland for at least 3 years in a row!

Halfway through this trip my camera broke so I was unable to take picture of the roadside view of Animal Land. I wish I had a picture to show you so that you could get a better idea of what this place looks like from the road. Needless to say, we have made fun of Animal Land almost every time we have driven past it on our way up to the lake for as long as we have had the ability to make fun of things.

We were all about making fun of Animal Land until my sister took my niece there a few vacations ago and we discovered that it actually is a pretty neat place. Dont get me wrong, it is no San Diego Zoo. In fact, it probably is the most random collection of animals in one place. They didnt have any elephants, or lions or tigers. But, they did have giraffes that you could feed!

They dont have any turtles, but they have a statue of one. And really, to a two year old, there is very little difference.

Moments later I tried to get a picture of them on the turtle. Note to self: large metal turtles in direct sunlight will burn your children if you try to place one on it. Lesson learned.

We went on an "African Safari" that was pulled by a tractor. Not very African in my opinion. Also not very African were the goats, cows and pigs we saw on the tour. I guess if you think of the animals you might find in some remote African village then the tour was very African. Anyways, there were a TON of these guys!

They get REALLY close to you too, as Maddie is noticing below.

It was very soon after this picture that one actually put its' head on my shoulder and I completely freaked out and grabbed my kids and ran to the middle of the trailer we were bring pulled on. A little too close for comfort for me.

I of course made my daily attempt at a cute picture of the girls again. This was before the camels attacked.

One day. One day they will both look at me and smile. I know it!

Animal Land actually had a lot of really cute play areas for the kids that I would love to show you, but my camera broke right after this picture.

Overall the girls had a great time. If we didnt have to be back for naptime I think they would have played there for quite a while. I was pleasantly surprised with my visit there and think the girls will have an even better time next year.