Great way to spend an afternoon (I r day if you have littles). Lovely zoo with lots to see and…read morelearn. It's very walkable but there's a train ride to catch some of the sites but it doesn't "drop off pick up" and somethings such as the penguins require a walk.

Was not impressed with the enclosures here. Most were overgrown and the animals seem…read morestressed/neglected for the most part. There's nothing for engagement or enrichment for the animals. I felt like we stepped back in time to zoos of the past, prior to the movement towards conservation, education and enrichment for the animals. The staff was friendly and we did see two zookeepers, a male who seemed to be in training and a female who was very kind in speaking to the animals she was feeding. Overall though, the zoo needs to really improve the animals environments. We experienced the same as the prior reviewer regarding the penguin enclosure....filthy and stinky. The penguins even looked depressed.

This small park close to Bismarck's "downtown" area features free parking with a picnic area and a…read morewater fountain. It's not very large, but it's a nice spot to stop and enjoy your lunch if the weather's good. The sculptures of children at play are neat and there are benches. Probably better when not buried in snow as it was today. [Review 10750 overall, 518 of 2019.]

I spent a week camping there and had a very positive experience…read more If you're looking for a place to camp in Bismarck, you can't beat the price or the location of General Sibley Campground. Location: This campground is in a peaceful, quiet spot in a local park, under a canopy of beautiful cottonwoods and near the river. You could hear owls at night and see other wildlife during the day. But it is also close enough to amenities -- grocery stores, restaurants, downtown Bismarck -- to be convenient. Several times, I picked up takeout dinner and brought it back to the picnic table near my campsite, and the food was still hot when I got it back there. Usually, campsites this close to stores/restaurants are surrounded by freeway noise and polluted air, so this place is a rare exception. Price: If you're familiar with the Bismarck-Mandan area, you're aware that the cost of lodging has gotten insanely expensive in the last decade or so. During my last week-long trip back to Bismarck, I didn't originally intend to camp. I was debating between staying at a motel or camping. But for a last-minute hotel reservation, I would have been paying more than 10x more per night for a hotel room than I paid to camp here. For $13/night (update: I see their website says $14/night now; still a great deal!), this is the best you'll find. Other campground logistics: -You can park right where you pitch your tent, which is really nice. -Another reviewer commented that the bathrooms with the showers are a bit far away. That's true, but I'd rather have 5-minute walk to the shower than be camped right in the middle of bathroom traffic. You could pick a site closer to the bathroom if that is an issue. -Things got a little louder on the weekend I was there, but only Saturday night were people rowdy/loud past 10pm. -Trash cans were overflowing for part of the week I stayed there, so they could definitely use more frequent trash pickup. -The vibe here is a lot more "quiet, travelers minding their own business" rather than "party campground" which was a big reason I stayed as long as I did. I left my tent pitched and drove away to do other things during the day. Nobody entered my campsite or messed with my stuff. There are not many campgrounds where it's still safe to do this. Thanks again to the staff at General Sibley Campground for an awesome stay!

General Sibley Park is top notch!…read more As a campground for RV's and Tents, this place has everything! It is located 4 miles south of downtown Bismarck, North Dakota. So...one moment you can be in the heart of Bismarck, and next thing coming here, you're surrounded by trees, grass, peace and quietness. How convenient. Using the trusty ole app on my phone called CAMPENDIUM, I made a reservation to stay here. The process was simple and stress free and before I knew it...I was setting up my tent in a beautiful park with plenty of green grass all around. It was a terrific atmosphere, and for early June, the campground was barely occupied. If you don't use Campendium, reservations can be made at generalsibley.bisparks.org Or...you can simply show up spontaneously. Btw...one thing I want to say off the top of my head...this place had so much fluffy grass all over the park to conveniently set up my tent...it was a luxury. There's nothing like sleeping on well kept grass making a nights sleep much more comfortable. Once at the park, you have to check-in at the office. Then, you get to pick any campsite/area you want. At this rate...let me do some copying and pasting from the park's website, which has very useful information... Here are the Office Hours... Monday-Friday, 11am-8pm Memorial Day-Labor Day: Monday-Sunday, 10am-9pm Office Phone: 701-222-1844 Camping seasons typically run from early May through early October. Here are the Camping Fees... Tent camping: $12/tent/night - this is an absolute bargain! RV campsites with electricity: $25/night - great price for RV's! Firewood: $6/bundle Ice: $4/bag Ice Cream Treats: $1 - lol, I never tried the ice cream. Extra Notes About Camping... "There is a designated tent camping area though there are no designated sites. Campers are allowed to set up their tents anywhere within the mowed tent area". "No reservations are needed or accepted in the tent area. Campers can register in the office during office hours or use the self-registration box after-hours". "Please know there is plenty of space available in the tent camping area of the park. This area has never reached capacity, even on the busiest of holidays and weekends". - There are over 100 campsites located within the park. That's a lot of space to accommodate people! - Cell phone reception works perfectly. I got to stream a movie in my tent at night. - Each campsite has a minimum of 30-amp electricity. This is always a big bonus for road-trip travelers...to be able to charge electronics. - Campsites also have fire pits and picnic tables for barbecuing. - There's a shower house in the center of the park. I picked a site nearby so I wouldn't have to walk far carrying my toiletries. Hot water was plentiful and you can take a shower for as long as you'd like. There are flush toilets inside this shower house. There were mirrors as well for shaving and or combing your hair. - I will say for visiting in the early spring part of the season, it did get cold at night. In fact, I had to use my Mr. Heater Buddy to stay warm. Lastly, I was trying to think about my fond memories from being here...was there anything missing at this park that could have made my experience better? Could General Sibley be the best campground I have ever stayed at??? ...I just want to say, lol, there was a campground 2 years ago in Houghton, Michigan that actually featured WiFi on their grounds. That was pretty impressive! But, regardless...I thoroughly enjoyed my time at General Sibley Park. In the end, I decided to hang around Bismarck an extra day and stay here another evening. That's how much I liked this place, deserving of 5 stars...overall, as good as it gets.

These folks are a real benefit to the Bismarck area. If you are interested in trying Stand Up…read morePaddleboarding but don't how where to go or how to transport the board or even how to do it. ... Jeff and Jen will set you up with the info and equipment you need. They have alot of experience with kayaking, canoeing and SUP-ing. They will bring the equipment to your drop-in spot and help you plan and might even be able to pick you up as well (I'm not sure if this service is always available, but it was on the day of our float). We had a fantastic 10 mile float down the Missouri river on paddleboards and it was our first time! The boards are VERY stable. You can sit or kneel or stand. It is great fun and we even noticed Jeff parked along the river at one point near the riverboat boat ramp checking on us and making sure we were ok. Very nice. Thanks, guys!!

I came to Eagles Park for the Universal Playground because of a pediatrics project. This…read moreplayground is hands down, a child's dream come true. Universal Playground: On top of your normal slides and playground sets, there are also zipline bucket seats, multiple people seasaws, roll over tables, sensory wall, many unique types of swings, a big spinning cup and a mini rock climbing wall. The flooring is about 70% rubber and 30% tanbark. My descriptions do not do it justice. Probably better to see for yourself. Pretty much the main feature here. Inside Shelter: Can be reserved in advance. Bathrooms are located in here, so this might be a problem if it is rented by another party. In my opinion, it can comfortably fit about 30-40 people. There are tables and chairs inside for use. Parking: bit limited in the lot, but lots of street parking Outside shelters: There are 3 private outside shelters. 1 super big one and 2 smaller ones. Grass field: Not as big as some other parks, but big enough for a children's playground

Kids love this place! There's so much to do! This is probably the most modern playground in the…read moreMandan area. It is clean, sometimes crowded, but pretty spacious. I wish there was more shaded areas and seats for adults to sit but overall it's great! You could keep kids entertained here for over an hour.

I want to establish my credentials before proceeding, because I think they are relevant…read more I am not a gym person. I want to be precise about this. I am not a lapsed gym person, or a former gym person who fell off the wagon, or a gym-curious person who simply never committed. I am a person for whom the gym existed entirely outside the boundaries of my daily life for the entirety of my adult existence. I work in information technology. I sit. I have sat with great consistency and no complaints for approximately three decades. My body and I had an understanding, and that understanding did not involve barbells...until now. I walked into Proximal 50 with the energy of a man who has made a decision and is now in the parking lot reconsidering it. I had no vocabulary. I had no frame of reference. I had a vague awareness that gyms contained equipment and that equipment had purposes, but the specifics were genuinely unavailable to me. And then I met Lexi Bata. I had expectations about what a personal trainer would be. Those expectations were formed entirely by cultural osmosis and were wrong in nearly every particular. I was expecting someone loud. I was expecting someone who would regard my current physical condition the way a contractor regards a badly neglected house. I was expecting to be pushed in ways that suggested the pusher had forgotten I was a person and not a goal. Lexi is soft-spoken. I want you to sit with that for a moment. Soft-spoken. Calm. Genuinely happy to be there, which I found disorienting at first because I was not sure I happy to be there and assumed that sentiment was shared by all parties. It was not. She was delighted. She remains delighted. Forty-five minutes twice a week with a person who is visibly pleased to be doing what they do is a remarkably pleasant way to spend time. I did not dread it coming in. I do not dread it now. Several people told me I would dread it. Those people were wrong and I intend to tell them so (I'm looking at you, Carl). She explained things. She explained why we were doing things, not just what, which matters to a person who works in IT because we are suspicious of processes we do not understand. When she demonstrated an exercise she made it look easy. It was not easy. This is not a criticism. This is an observation about the gap between watching a thing and doing a thing, which turned out to be considerable. I have been introduced to the Elevated Heel Goblet Squat and the Russian Twist. I want to address these directly. When Lexi first mentioned them I assumed they were beverages. They are not beverages. They are exercises with names chosen, I believe, to keep non-gym people slightly off-balance. I do them now. Without falling over, mostly. This is progress. The warehouse training space deserves mention. Being in a dedicated area separate from the main gym floor made the experience of being a complete beginner significantly less fraught. I was not performing my ignorance in front of an audience. I was simply learning, in a space designed for learning, with an instructor who treated every question as entirely reasonable. I also need to address the music. I do not know who controls the playlist at Proximal 50 but I would like to ask them several questions. In a single session I have heard Cyndi Lauper's Girls Just Want to Have Fun, a techno arrangement of a Metallica composition I did not know could exist in that form, and Fishin' in the Dark by the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. Back to back. Without explanation. I find this tremendously amusing and ask that no one change it. Lexi knows when to push. She pushes in the way a person pushes when they know what you have in reserve and want you to find it, not in the way a person pushes when they have forgotten your name. There is a difference. I notice it every session. I came in knowing nothing. Fifteen sessions later I am writing this in genuine surprise at how much I enjoy something I was prepared to merely endure. Go to Proximal 50. Ask for Lexi Bata. Bring your ignorance. Bring your skepticism about the playlist. Be prepared to hear Black Sabbath done by a marching band. She will know what to do with all of it.

This is a really nice hybrid gym concept in downtown Bismarck. They have "crossfit" style classes…read moreas well as a normal gym setup, split into two rooms. One room (the one that usually has the classes) has full squat racks, lifting platforms, and barbells with bumper plates, which is awesome. The other room has more machines and some free weights like dumbells. There is also a squat rack in that room, but I was perplexed as to why the rubber mat that's under it ends so close to it; it makes it hard to squat if you don't like squatting on bare concrete (which has less traction). I got a free day pass from the Radisson, and the checkin process was easy and painless. Bathrooms are large and clean, and there's showers too. One sort of weird thing about this gym were all the signs they had posted around with rules...I'm not sure how strict they are about enforcing them, but I feel like all the rules posted everywhere was maybe a bit much. All in all, a nice option for dropping in if you are in Bismarck and want to get a workout in.

Another day…read more. Another Planet Fitness location.. Another great workout! We've visited over two dozen locations in seven states on our road trip the last few months. We love our black card membership. We were greeted upon arrival and acknowledged when we left. The girl at the counter was nice and friendly. We didn't have to wait for equipment and the facility was clean. Many more locations to visit!

say they open at 7 am, but we waited a full hour until 8 am before anyone showed up to open. I…read morewant that hour of my life back. we were in Bismarck for a few weeks a year ago as well, and I recall they were a good 40 minutes late opening that Sunday as well. trending in the wrong direction

One of my favorite courses in the Bismarck area. Tom O'Leary is a 18-hole, Par 69 course, with…read moreCarts and club rental available. The greens need a little bit of work on a few, but the course as a whole is always well maintained. I give it a 3 stars...maybe even 3.5.