2017 Golden Teddy Awards — Out + About

Winner: Woodland Park Zoo

Oh, baby! Award-winning Woodland Park Zoo boasts a new gorilla baby and (sometime soon, as of this writing) a baby giraffe. Other summer attractions, beyond the 1,000-plus animals that populate the spacious, naturalistic exhibits, include the Butterfly Garden.

Finalists

This summer is an especially good time to pay a visit to Tacoma’s Point Defiance Zoo & Aquarium. Readers cite its outdoor show, camel rides and Washed Ashore, an intriguing new exhibit of larger-than-life sea creatures sculpted from plastic ocean trash. 

Not too far from the Paradise entrance of Mount Rainier National Park, Northwest Trek Wildlife Park offers a unique animal experience: Take a tram ride through the park, seeing native species such as bison, elk and bighorn sheep up close. Then, go climbing at the epic playground, Kids’ Trek, or zip through the forest at Zip Wild.

Cougars, cranes, lemurs and macaws: Just off Newport Way in Issaquah, Cougar Mountain Zoo is a best-kept secret for animal lovers. The zoo primarily focuses on endangered species and education, spotlighting 10 different “worlds,” or areas of specialization, with one or more “ambassador” species/subspecies in residence at the zoo. 

Kelsey Creek Farm offers an urban farm escape in the heart of Bellevue. It’s a 1930s-style working farm with white clapboard barns and farm animals including ponies, cows, sheep, bunnies, chickens and pigs in their pastures (visitors can view but not pet). Hands-on interaction is available through farm classes, school tours and birthday parties. Woodland paths, a playground and picnic tables are also open to the public.