Shhh, don't tell the tourists - the Zoo
Friday, March 6, 2009 at 9:00AM Between being a tour guide and the parent of small children, I am at the National Zoo reliably once a week from March through July when it tapers off to "only" once every couple of months or so. Honestly, some days I think if I don't show up, the Orangutans go "where's that guy in the Nationals hat that's always sitting on the bench? If he's not here, who are we going to fling poop at today?" So, if I'm not taking a big honking tour bus there, how do I get there?
While my fellow Washingtonians may strip me of my DC residency and force me to be duly represented in Congress, let me tell you one of the great insider tricks to visiting the National Zoo. Presumably, you're coming from downtown on the Red Line in the direction of Shady Grove. Savvy traveler that you are, you've checked the map and notice that there is, conveniently, a Metro stop labeled Woodley Park/Zoo/Adams Morgan, in keeping with our odd fetish of naming a stop after anything within a mile of it. But no fear, that must be it. You're reassured by the presence of several other families obviously heading in the same direction. The train stops, and everyone jumps off. But wait! That one bunch stayed on. Suckers! They must have been so busy talking they missed the stop.
Two crying kids and a blown lung later, having completed your trek up what could only be named Mt. Death, you arrive at the promised land and the giant lion sculptures welcome you to the entrance. You make your way in and start shuffling forward to see those insufferable pandas, when, lo and behold, there are those people from the Metro! Ahead of you! Son of a... How'd they do it?
Well, they hopped off at the next stop, Cleveland Park. They fled off to the Cleve, but why? Well, according to my calculations on Google Maps, while Cleveland Park is 211 feet further away; it's slightly downhill as opposed to straight the hell up Mt. Death. So, repeat after me: Get off at Cleveland, back on at Woodley. Now, you too can smugly grin at those tourists out of breath before they even get in.
Metro, National Zoo 
Reader Comments (6)
I never knew this and am a dedicated zoo-goer. Thanks for the tip. Just in time for the bad knee suffering grandmother's visit.
Another option I do with the kids often is take the 92, 94, or 96 bus and get out at the intersection of Calvert and Adams Mill Road and walk downhill to the entrance in Rock Creek Park. It's only a .1 mile further than had you gone by metro. You pass a killer playground on the way. You never back track. You see the animals located at the bottom of the hill which you never have seen because you've never been willing to walk that far into the zoo for fear of having to walk back up the hill with your chilren who by then are screaming "PICK UP, PICK UP, PICK UP". And the best part is that the elephants and Pandas are near the top of your first climb allowing you to use them as incentive while the energy of your children is still high and they are willing to walk. Then when your done, you can take the Metro back, never having back tracked.
*note.
the Rock Creek entrance is located off of Rock Creek Parkway not the little service entrance road on Adams Mill. That would be just too good to be true.
I was SO grateful for that advice last summer... getting off at Cleveland Park was amazing advice, and I'm glad to hear you say it here as well.
Yup, Tim, really does wear a tacky Nationals hat. I am another tour guide and FOT (Friend of Tim) and have an even tackier baseball cap that lights up at night. When the kids on my tours ask why I have the hat, my answer is always "So I don't get lost."
Hey! My hat isn't tacky. It's just like the Nationals: I paid too much for it several years ago; it's worn out and worth nothing now; but I'm still glad I have it.
We tried this tip and it worked well, we planned where we would each lunch on our walk to the zoo. We arrived at 9:15 and had the place to ourselves. The building were closed until 10:00 but a lot of the cages inside were being cleaned so the animals were outside.
It was quite and peaceful, we watched a mother gorilla nursing her baby, pandas lounging on rocks, elephants, cheetahs, lions, tigers prairie dogs and lemurs hanging out.
The whole dynamic changed at 10:00 when hordes of middle school creatures showed up. We stayed to see the orangutans, they are let out between 11-11:30 and we wanted to see them swing from the outdoor cable lines.
The language and behavior of the middle school creatures made us bail. One kid was whaling on the glass in the small mammal house despite signs saying not to tap the glass. I told him to stop, it scares the animals. He ignored me and proceeded to bang on every enclosure. We were run down by a group of boys chasing a pack of screaming girls.
My kids were upset the animals were being disturbed. I am amazed the zoo lets these groups run wild and don't post rangers in the buildings or police the crowds. The swearing and lack of respect for others was sad to witness.