Twelve hours in a car is a serious road trip, right?
During Thanksgiving, the Jones made a trip down 95 (that part I don’t want to talk about) down to the sunshine state to visit family. While we were there the warm weather and the littlest Jones’ love of ziplining led us to a trip to the Brevard Zoo and the next door neighbor the Treetop Trek.
The Brevard Zoo offers a full day of family fun for any animal lover. With over nine hundred different types of animals throughout the zoo, you have the chance to observe animals that are not only native to Florida but also from all around the globe. We enjoyed watching monkeys swing through trees, getting a close up look at kangaroos, and appreciated the glass between us and the venomous snakes. The trees in many of the sections also offered some shade from the hot Florida sun.
The Brevard Zoo has a train that takes you on a tour of the zoo, enters some animal habitats and share some information about the creatures. The staff at the Brevard Zoo was knowledgeable and friendly. The littlest Jones got to feed a giraffe some lettuce from an observation platform that was as tall as the giraffe. While she enjoyed the experience, she wasn’t so sure about the giraffe saliva that ended up on her finger. The Brevard Zoo also has an aviary where you can feed various species seed sticks and nectar cups while they fly around.
The only zoo in the country that offers kayaking, at Brevard Zoo you can hop in and take a tour around an animal habitat or explore another on your own. Throughout the day, there are also Keeper Chats about the animals in the zoo that give you more information. The Brevard Zoo opens at 9:30 and I recommend getting there when it does. The parking lot fills up quickly.
After a full day at the zoo, we returned the next day for the littlest Jones to complete a ropes course at Treetop Trek. Located right next to Brevard Zoo, Treetop Trek offers five different ropes and zipline courses for beginners through experts. This can be a popular attraction, so consider booking a time online to ensure that you get to experience the course.
Height requirements kept the littlest Jones at the Chutes and Ladders course, but I think she gladly would have tackled the beginners course if height hadn’t interfered. The course started off low to the ground with teaching kids how to move while attached to a harness and tackling obstacles like a balance beam and swinging steps. In the second part of the course, the platforms get a little higher and the obstacles are a little more challenging.
Completely focused, the littlest Jones loved moving through the obstacles and going down the two ziplines. Her instructor helped her when needed and was encouraging. At the end of the experience, the littlest Jones was proud to say that she never fell off any of the obstacles. Once she grows a bit more, I can see her taking on the more experienced courses that take you twenty feet into the air. Parts of the course even go through the Brevard Zoo, so you get a unique perspective of some of the animals like the spider monkeys and giant otters.
If ever end up on the Space Coast of Florida, I would highly recommend a trip to Brevard Zoo and Treetop Trek.
Check out our other adventures here:
