Woodland Park Zoo

Seattle's public zoo, the Woodland Park Zoo is located just south and west of Greenlake, at the intersection of Fremont, Ballard, and Greenlake.

While it's not the largest zoo in the US, the Woodland Park Zoo has done a good job of providing a habitat for a wide variety of animals in an urban, pacific northwest setting. When we last visited, the giraffes and penguins both seemed to be out and about despite the cool-ish weather. The hippos seemed pretty content to just lay on the ground, though when we went by the second time, one had mysteriously slid into the water...

Ballard Locks

Officially known as the "Hiram M. Chittenden Locks", this pair of boat locks are some of the busier locks in the country, as ships traveling between Puget Sound and Lake Union or Lake Washington must traverse these locks. There are two locks; one for large ships and one for small ships, in addition to a salmon run to allow salmon to climb the 22 feet between sea level and the level of Lake Washington.

In addition to the locks themselves, the northern side of the locks (which includes about 50 spaces of parking) also hosts the Carl English Botanical Gardens.

Discovery Park

This is a great park on the west edge of Magnolia. It has great views of Puget Sound and nice walking trails with a variety of loops for different distances and exertion levels. On the north side is a small Navy station, and there are some great birdwatching opportunities on the west side near the lighthouse. The west end also houses a sewage treatment facility, but it seems well-run and is reasonably-well concealed in the forested section along that coast.
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