What an absolute gem of a find! We were looking for a pit stop on a long drive where we could grab…read morelunch and stretch our legs, and then I saw pictures of Amberations and immediately knew I wanted to figure out how to get there. It took us a couple of U-turns to find the exact spot, but once we arrived, I was so glad we made the effort! The kids absolutely loved meeting the barn animals, while I loved the beautiful riverside picnic tables. We also traded a few books at the little library and took a nice, long walk along the nature trails. We ended up spending much more time here than we expected, but honestly, we enjoyed every minute of it. It was peaceful, beautiful, and had something for everyone in the family. Such a wonderful little oasis that we happened to stumble upon during a road trip. Definitely worth the detour!

Amberations is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to supporting mental health through…read moreinteraction with the natural environment. With almost 50 acres, they are located on the western edge of Onondaga county in Marietta, New York. At their barn site they offer opportunities to mingle with their goats, donkey, birds and barn cats. There is easy access to a small stream, teaming with frogs, minnows, and salamanders. A lovely deck adorns one end of their barn. It's a nice place to enjoy the sounds of nature and occasionally be visited by a Great Blue Heron. This is a wheelchair friendly area. The entrance to this area is a driveway shared with 2231 Amber Road, next to the Otisco Lake Community Center. Look for the small silhouette of Big Joe the donkey! In their upper fields they have built wheelchair paths surrounding a gazebo and are always working on developing gardens. There are also very nice trails through woods as well as through their songbird habitat. This is the best area for taking dogs and walking trails. The entrance to this area is at 2345 Amber Road, up a long gravel driveway. Go left at the top to find the small parking area in the fields. There is also a large pasture with two beautiful horses to visit. Their goal is to nurture relationships with the community they seek to serve. Opportunities abound for getting involved in many capacities. If you like nature, the outdoors, gardening, animals, or helping others, please consider giving them a call and volunteering. I'm a volunteer for Amberations so I can tell you, it's an amazing organization. It was started by two families who wanted to be able to bring nature to people of all abilities. It has grown so much in its 10 years of existence. They've hosted weddings, hold two big fundraisers during the year - their Otisco Lake Bike Race and Mothers Day Brunch in the spring and Fall Festival in autumn - as well as offering glamping, a new pond full of frogs, and their wonderful animals to visit. Definitely a place for everyone to check out, whether you like animals, nature, hiking - whatever you're into, Amberations has something for you.

You have a beautiful park and our family has enjoyed every visit , but today we made the mistake of…read morepurchasing food. First of all it was the most disgusting food I have ever had the misfortune of trying to eat , which went from 1 bite to trash!!!! Secondly you should be ashamed charging amount money for this garbage, "shame on you " who is she selling her house? Hope you take this as chance to do better

We had a bus trip to visit in the morning during the week so it was not that busy. This was my…read morefirst time here but I'd heard good things about it. We walked through the gift shop to board a little train ride. The train ride was kinda lame in that you just went in a circle around a pond and didn't see anything other than some llamas. We were then free to roam around the grounds. I especially liked feeding the giraffes the carrots! I felt like the bigger animals should have had bigger spaces to roam around (it seemed cramped and big cats were pacing back and forth in an agitated mood). The bear cubs were very playful and cute rolling around with each other. It was fun to experience this but I think the Syracuse zoo is better with more space for the animals and more variety.

We really enjoyed our visit to Wolf Mountain. The grounds were a perfect place to stroll and relax…read more We opted for the tour(which is included in admission) and I am glad we did. The staff were very knowledgeable and gave a ton of information not found on the signs. In addition, the wolves seem to be more comfortable when the staff are around, so they come near the edge of the enclosure more often. My favorite part of our visit was when one of the wolves started howling and then all of the others did too. It can't be put in to words how cool it was to here15+ wolves howling from different parts of the park. In addition to the wolves, there were other animals there too and they were equally cool. Another thing worth mentioning is their use of solar and other green tech to have a smaller footprint, a nice touch.

If you like nature this is a Must see Be prepared to walk…read more Bring the kids but leave pets at home

This place was such a fun surprise! It doesn't look huge from the outside, but there are so many…read moreanimals to see once you start exploring. They have an amazing variety of reptiles, including tortoises, turtles, snakes, iguanas, bearded dragons, and some insects. It's a great place for both kids and adults, especially if you love reptiles or just want something different from the usual museum or zoo experience. We had so much fun getting a close-up look at all the animals and left with a ridiculous number of photos. Definitely worth a visit!

We did the guided tour and the sloth encounter and it was amazing! My son got to pet and feed so…read moremany animals, including a bearded dragon! The highlight was definitely the sloth encounter though. We were with three adult sloths and a baby for at least half an hour! We got to feed two of the adults and the baby and pet them! They eat strawberries and pumpkin and other vegetables. They were also definitely not as slow as I imagined. If you are thinking of doing the sloth encounter, DO IT! This is seriously one of the best animal encounters I have ever had and it blew my expectations away!

Came to try Brew Barn! Fun good eats tasty brews. Peaches could be thinner or grilled first but…read moregood pizza. I like spicy would add hot honey. Sweet tea needs to be sweeter but overall great spot. See ya for punkin again!

The last time I was here it was excellent the drinks and food are delicious…read more Time pumpkin patch is an excellent place for kids and family

I really enjoy taking my daughter to this zoo. It's very clean and organized and there's always…read moreplenty of parking! My daughter absolutely loves seeing all the animals. They have multiple exhibits here such as the barn animals, aquatic life, elephants, tigers and seasonally, leopards too! This zoo is very stroller friendly and it's easy to spend about an hour or two walking around and taking the time to look at each animal. The gift shop is well organized and fun to browse. I do wish they would update the cafe and have more food options and allergen friendly options, that would be my main critique.

We went to Brew at the Zoo, VIP, and experienced what the food options were inside before the event…read morestarted. It's a 'real chef' behind the food, and she's great! Go experience an evening event at the Zoo if you can. It's worth it!

This was my first time at Fort Rickey, and it was a perfect day! All of the animals were active,…read moreand it was so cool to see them up close. Our capybara-loving kid was over-the-moon to get to feed the capybaras, and I think a piece of me was healed after snuggling with baby goats. The admission prices were very reasonable, especially with so much to do. We could not have had a better experience, from the friendly bird who played with us when we checked in, to all of the animal presentations and encounters. You can tell the animals are well-taken care of and happy, and the employees are, too. We were really impressed with how knowledgeable the employees were, and how great they are with the kids and families. They explained all of the safety rules clearly, and they had great enthusiasm and patience. To top it off, our kids loved getting to play on the playground, in the play place, and on the massive trampoline. Pro tip: bring a little extra cash and quarters to get some extra food for some of the animals. Core memories were created for sure, and we hope to come back on our next visit.

The Fort Rickey Discovery Zoo is fucking AWESOME…read more We needed a place for a stopover with the kids to break up a long drive. We looked into activities in Utica and area, and someone suggested this place. We had no idea what to expect and pulling into the parking lot, were prepared to be underwhelmed. We were so wrong. Think your typical, big city zoo, and take away all the stuff you don't like, and add in more of the stuff that you do like. For example, make the size of the zoo manageable for kids to walk around. Instead of having 11,000 species of animals that most people don't care that much about, have a smaller place where you really get to be up close. Then add in more interaction - literally every 30 minutes there is something on the schedule for kids to go play with goats, or touch a porcupine. And then throw in a kids play area, and clean bathrooms! Skip the Utica Zoo and come here. 10/10 would recommend for families looking for a fun way to spend 3 or more hours of their day.

My wife saw an advertisement on Facebook for a lavender and llama event here, so it sparked our…read moreinterest. The event was already fully booked, but I easily found tickets available for the next scheduled tour at 10 AM. We were fortunate enough to have Kate as our tour guide. She is awesome! We all loved the tour and the animals. This is a place with purpose and we look forward to telling our friends and family all about it. Kate told us about the plans for the future and expansion etc. We will also look forward to coming back again.

From the owner: Sweet Farm is the world’s first nonprofit sanctuary addressing the devastating impact that factory…read morefarming has on climate change — from the perspective of animals, plants, and the planet. By joining climate education, regenerative agriculture, farm animal rescue, and innovative technology, Sweet Farm is redefining sanctuary. Sweet Farm offers public tours, private tours, special events, and more! Visit our website to book your visit and learn more about our world-saving work.

I have been obsessed with wanting to visit this zoo since 2017 and April the giraffe gave birth on…read morecamera.. and we finally went! The staff was absolutely incredible! It was an overcast day so it wasn't very crowded. The animals were well kept and taken care of. We loved visiting Oliver first thing when you walk thru the gate, he loves his lettuce! Every employee cares about every one of those animals and it shows. We did the sloth encounter with Olivia and she was so knowledgeable and loving with the sloths, answered all our questions and even took our picture with puppy and Lola. It was an experience we'll never forget. There is a rope course in the middle that we had to try out and it was so much fun! The feed buckets were a little expensive for what they were but we figure worth it if the cost was going back to the animals and my son had such a great time feeding anything and everything he could, even returning to his "favorites" like the Capybara. As we were leaving, the cashier at the gift shop made sure we knew about the discount our park admission got us to the preserve drive thru area so of course we headed over there. All in all an amazing experience and we hope to come back!

This place treats their animals horribly for one the amount of water the penguins had is so sad,…read moreand the amount of shade the giraffe had well it's simple they didn't have any, oh and also the alligators water was full of poop

This is not your large city zoo, it is small and 90% outdoors, so a snowy winter day not the best…read moreidea, haha. That being said for small children it's perfect, a nice walk, easy to see the exhibits. Personally I think the areas are too small for the animals and wouldn't visit again. Price point and membership options do make it affordable for families.

What a cute zoo! We were in town for the Boilermaker race and looking for other things to do. I'm…read moreglad we went because the animals at this zoo are obviously happy to see visitors. I had a Moment (big M) with the ostrich ladies who came right up to their fence and shared all their gossip. They even followed in parallel as my husband and I walked on the path. Well worth the visit, lots of parking, it can be sunny and hot in the summer so bring your water and wear your coral-safe sunscreen.