Apple Valley

The city’s most famous attraction – and one the nation’s prized outposts of the animal kingdom. The Zoo features six exhibits and endless miles of walking trails. The Minnesota Trail features native animals, including the caribou and namesake of the state’s men’s professional basketball team, the timber wolf. The Tropics Trail is great for getting an up-close view of some of our planet’s weirdest and wackiest jungle creatures. The birds here are noisy and a little excited – you may want to bring a hat. Zoo-goers can touch sharks, dolphins and other monsters of the deep in Discovery Bay. The new Grizzly Coast features animals from Russia’s eastern shores. There is also a petting zoo. Bring hand sanitizer. Although the face of Apple Valley, its zoo and its police department is the Amur tiger, the zoo’s most prized resident is the infamous komodo dragon. The dragons have been known to be a danger to humans because of their deceiving speed up to 13 mph, but these docile creatures have grown slightly overweight while in captivity and no longer pose a threat to lost children. The mini-donuts outside the Northern Trail are a must.

Experience living history at a 1900s-era agricultural village and museum dedicated to connecting people to the exciting rural past. Test drive farm equipment, tour sod houses and take part in the annual winter Currier & Ives celebration. Ahlberg Heritage Center, the museum, houses more than 10,000 artifacts depicting social and rural history, with an emphasis on agriculture.