Top Ten Zoos In the Southeast

It is my birthday today and one of my favorite things on this earth are countdowns and countdown shows. Because of that I decided that I would do a countdown of the top 10 zoos in the southeast. We live in Florida and I grew up in Virginia so the majority of the zoos I have been to are in the southeast. For purposes of this assignment we will call the southeast anything south of Baltimore on the east coast.

Add in Maryland and take out the non coastal states and then this map is where we are going off. MD, DC, VA, NC, SC, GA, FL. We will count theme parks and aquariums as part of this countdown. Unfortunately if we have not been to the zoo it can not be included on the countdown.

10) Florida Aquarium, Tampa, FL
Review to come soon. Visit in 2011.

9) National Aquarium, Baltimore, MD
Review here

Main Tank at the National Aquarium

8) National Zoo, Washington DC
Review Here

The biggest draw at the National Zoo, their Giant Panda Exhibit. Well other than the fact that it is free!

7) Sea World, Orlando, FL
Review coming soon. Trying to wait for a return visit to get an updated review before posting.

Shamu

6) Lowry Park Zoo, Tampa, FL
Review Here

Penguin Feeding at Lowry Park Zoo

5) Jacksonville Zoo, Jacksonville, FL
I've been to this zoo many times in the past, but Jenna and I just went together last week. Our review is coming very soon.

4) Maryland Zoo, Baltimore, MD
Review Here.

Arctic Fox @ Maryland Zoo

3) Busch Gardens, Tampa, FL
Review posted 3 days ago. Click on the FL tab for more on Busch Gardens Tampa.

This picture was not in the review. It is a Gorilla napping @ Busch Gardens Tampa.

2) Disney's Animal Kingdom, Kissimmee, FL
Review Here

Tree of Life @ Disney's Animal Kingdom

And the number one animal attraction in the southeast is.....
Zoo Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Full Review Here

They had close views of my favorite the Rhino!

They also had a baby komodo dragon feeding when we went.

Zoo Atlanta is very deserving of #1. It was so close between it and Animal Kingdom though.

However, if this was talking about each park and not just the animal portion, I would go with Busch Gardens Tampa. I suggest you check out all of these places if you can!

Let us know if you think we missed anything or if we need to check another zoo out. Also if you have different rankings please share.

-Noland

The National Aquarium

The National Aquarium

Baltimore, Maryland

This is the entrance to the National Aquarium in Baltimore, MD. Its located on the beautiful inner harbor:

It was really a cute area and we went to some stores near by after visiting the aquarium! But as for the aquarium, I'll begin my review!

Date of Visit: July 4, 2011

Highlights: It had different levels which you could catch a glimpse of the lower levels from above which was really cool although most of the time, I feared dropping my camera in the water. They had a lot of unique animals like puffins, which you don't see on the regular. The shark exhibit was really cool! There were so many of them and they were so large. The stingrays were also very large and in the largest tank. Also, they had a massive sea turtle which hid most of the time but when we finally got a glimpse of him, he was pretty cool! They also had piranhas, which my fiance enjoyed - but they were difficult to capture a picture of. I loved seeing the dolphins too (- although the day we went there was no dolphin show)! Lastly, I love the jellyfish! I know, they sting and it hurts but they are just so beautiful! They have an awesome jelly area.

Pictures:

This was at the entry of the aquarium so of course, we were being silly. RAWR.

i love the tropical colors!

here is the large tank that holds the huge sting rays, the sea turtle and some sharks!

jellies. i love them although I would never want to touch them!

 more

so pretty! 

baby jellyfish! jellies!

shark from the large tank

another shark from the shark tank area! 

there were so many but it as difficult to get a picture because the tank was very dark.

so pretty

eel- looking straight at me.. almost a little creepy.

snakes- i don't like them but this one is pretty! 

gator

 and my personal favorite- DOLPHINS.

 they are so flirtatious with zoo visitors - coming up to the window. It was cute.

Disappointments: The biggest disappointment with our visit the the Baltimore aquarium was the lack of a dolphin show. I think we would have given this a 5 out of 5 rating except for the lack of a dolphin show. Luckily, they usually have a dolphin show, so maybe if you go, you can catch it! We got through the whole aquarium in a few hours. 

It was really great though! I loved it and I think you would enjoy it as well!

4 out of 5 elephant review!

That's all for now! Hope you all are having a great summer!

signing off  ♥ jen