Mill Mountain Zoo, Roanoke, Va.

Mill Mountain Zoo, Roanoke, Va., is probably the smallest zoo I've ever been to. And it's accredited!

We visited recently on a Christmas shopping excursion to the city. I really enjoyed the colorful pheasants, the marmosets and wolverine. Very cool.

Many of the exhibits were closed because of the windy and cool conditions. We paid just over $7 for one adult, which seems to be a lot for a small zoo.

Here's some photos:

Blue Magpie

Golden pheasant -- one of my favorites!

Pygmy goat

Snow leopard

Japanese Macaque

Eurasian black vulture -- a huge fella!

Sichuan Takin

Black-eared tufted marmoset. I wanted to cuddle with them!

I believe these are white-napped cranes.

Since we have a N.C. Zoo membership, we got in half price. (The N.C. Zoo is huge and a great weekend activity for the family. Check it out if you're down that way.)

While on top of Mill Mountain, check out the Mill Mountain Star, the Star Trail and The Discovery Center. There are no photos of the Star Trail below. We didn't walk on the trail that day, but we've done it before.

You can see this star from most areas in Roanoke.

Here's a view from atop Mill Mountain. The star is located behind the photographer in this shot.

A snake in The Discovery Center. I don't know why Chris insists on snapping photos of snakes!

At the bottom of the mountain, check out the Chestnut Ridge Trail. We walked there for a bit and it was a great walk, even for the cool, windy day we were there. It's 5.4 miles, but we walked about 2.5 miles, cutting through a campground and walking down along the road to get back to the parking lot.

I'm checking out the map to decide which way to go. I'm bundled up, but was still cold in the wind.

A shot of the road as we crossed it along the trail.