A group of Brownies enjoys a birthday party at Camp Long.
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Top Tips for Family Nights Out
• Be prepared for a warm summer day to turn into a cool evening. Warm layers, comfortable shoes and a few pocket snacks will all help.
• Spotting the animals in the dark is a great experience, but make sure kids know that some animals will already be tucked up for the night.
• Take heed of minimum age requirements as long evenings can involve lots of walking. Ask staff for help beforehand to know what to expect.
• Even on a public event, events are still guided. Make sure you stay close and listen to instructions – especially as night draws in!
• Weekend events are very popular – reserve well in advance.
• No sleeping bag? Can’t borrow from friends or family? All local REI stores have a range of rental camping equipment. Prices start at $18 per night for a sleeping bag. Find details at www.rei.com/seattle. Also check local consignment stores.
Woodland Park Zoo Overnight Adventures
Minimum age: 7 years. Overnight cost ranges from $40 - $46 per person; evening only until 10:30 p.m., $30 per person. See Web site for dates. 5500 Phinney Ave. N., Seattle. 206-548-2424. www.zoo.org.
Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium Zoo Snooze
Minimum age: 5 years. Public event costs $55 for one adult and one child ($11 for each additional family member). See Web site for dates. 5400 North Pearl Street, Tacoma. 253-591-5337. www.pdza.org.
Northwest Trek Wildlife Park Family Camps take place in July and August. Costs: $48 per adult and $25 per child (3-12); includes evening snacks and breakfast. You must bring your own tent. 11610 Trek Dr. E., Eatonville. 360-832-6117. www.nwtrek.org.
Camp Long
Ten rustic cabins are available for rental from April 1 through the end of October. $40 per night. 5200 35th Ave. S.W., Seattle. 206-684-7434. www.seattle.gov/PARKS/Environment/camplong.
Wolf Haven International
“Howl-ins” take place on Saturday evenings in August, 6 p.m. to 9 p.m. Evenings include a tour, entertainment and crafts. Cost: $15 for adults and $8 for children, kids 2 and under free. For an extra cost, camping is also available on these evenings – tents and dry RV sites – with breakfast provided in the morning. 3111 Offut Lake Road S.E., Tenino. 360-264-4695. www.wolfhaven.org.
Other Overnight Programs in the Area
Check out your favorite local museum or attraction to see if they have an overnight event, such as the programs at the Pacific Science Center and Museum of Flight. Some places may only accommodate private groups.
School’s Out and Summer Evenings are Getting Longer. It’s Time to Look at Family Activities that Stretch Past Bedtime … Even Right Through ‘til Breakfast.
Welcome to the world of overnight events – the ultimate sleepover.
Sleep with the sharks at Point Defiance Zoo or go behind the scenes overnight at Woodland Park Zoo. Camp next to the coyotes at Northwest Trek or cozy up in a cabin in West Seattle.
Many local attractions now have an overnight event on their calendars. Families can attend public events and groups can arrange a private evening. These great opportunities mean having the zoo, wildlife park or forest to yourself at a very special, quiet time – often seeing sights that you never would see as a regular day visitor. So dig out that sleeping bag and flashlight and get ready for a family night out.
Northwest Trek
At Northwest Trek, 30 excited human faces turn toward the darkening sky and howl in unison. They include myself, my husband, and our two sons, ages 5 and 3, all taking part in wolf hide-and-seek. We are on a “S’mores and Snores” event, and for this family night out we’ve brought our sleeping bags and a tent.
Every year on four summer weekends, the wildlife park opens its doors after hours for a family camping event. Wolf hide-and-seek with our guide for the evening is just the beginning. My 5-year-old son’s eyes widen with excitement as he grips his flashlight tightly.
Northwest Trek, a wildlife park near Eatonville, is a haven for North American animals, offering an incredible experience – even for day guests. There are traditional animal enclosures and 435 acres of “free roaming area.” In this area the human visitors are caged in an open tram and travel safari style for a 45-minute tour. On camping weekends, with fewer people in the tram, animal sightings are often easier. Elk, caribou and mountain goats also come out in the cool of the evening, looking for food.
My older son stares hard at the passing trees, trying to conjure animals out of sheer will. He isn’t disappointed, as within minutes a herd of bison blocks the path of the tram. We hear the deep, defensive grunts of the bison fathers. The tram climbs up from the wetlands area, where we spot our first beaver and a family of raccoons. Now in denser forest, one of the park’s three moose eyes me calmly as he strolls out of the trees just feet away.
Before and after the tram tour, we enjoy a busy activity program. My sons love making bear treats – stuffing fruit pieces into pinecones – which are hidden in the bear enclosure the next morning. We watch with excitement as the bears dig inside old tree trunks, sniffing out the hidden pinecones. Usually the food is simply left out in the open for the bears. Making them hunt for it gives their brains some fun exercise – what park staff call an “enrichment activity.”
The whole camping setup is ideal for first-time family campers – one night only on a summer evening with meals provided in the park’s cozy café. Before bed, we enjoy cocoa and marshmallows, served by a campfire.
As we prepare for sleep, we are hit by the reality of pitching a tent close to 200 wild animals as an alarming howling and growling from coyotes, grizzly bears and other wildlife fills the air.
Our guide, who reassuringly camps with the group, has already explained that a far-off sound unheard by the human ear triggers animals to call out in unison. By this time, our own human cubs are so tired from a busy schedule and a late bedtime that they fall asleep very quickly. It is left to Mom and Dad to listen to the calls of the wild.
Woodland Park Zoo
If you like the idea of a family night out but would prefer to sleep within four walls and a roof, you still have great choices. I joined Brownie troop 2590 from Monroe and their sleeping bags in Woodland Park Zoo’s Zoomazium building.
The “Overnight Adventure” program at the zoo is a popular choice for groups as a private event, but family nights are also available. The Brownies had sold 4,000 boxes of Girl Scout cookies to pay for their nighttime tour and the chance to sleep inside the zoo’s popular play area.
After a pizza dinner, they are introduced to the “Mission Possible Force” theme for the evening. The “Junior Agents” are then issued special red-light flashlights, helping them to find clues hidden in the zoo. The flashlights minimize disturbance to the animals, but also give the explorers a sense of importance as they venture out into the quiet, crowd-free zoo.
As well as seeing the animals, the Overnight Adventure program offers a special treat – a behind-the-scenes trip to the Commissary. The Commissary holds all of the animal’s food, including an intriguing dried food area with shelves labeled “giraffe snacks” and a huge walk-in freezer.
After a food quiz, the Brownies learn that Columbus monkeys are partial to Cheerios and the large jars of peanut butter are for … well, the elephants, of course. A bag of frozen rats (snake treats) from the freezer brings several squeals from the 7-year-olds, although questions on meat-eating animals from a vegetarian Brownie at the front are handled very sensitively.
As it gets darker, the group heads to the Northern Trail, to spot the grizzlies and find the last spy clue. Now 8:45 p.m., it’s well past bedtime for most and time to head back to the Zoomazium. The Brownies pick spots for sleeping bags along with a stuffed toy dog called Buddy, brought from home.
After breakfast the next day, the program includes another guided walk around the zoo and a free pass for the rest of the day. Participants also get an additional ticket to use later in the year.
Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium
Farther south, visitors can also enjoy Point Defiance Zoo in Tacoma after hours. Standing on top of Point Defiance Park, overlooking Puget Sound, the zoo has a really magical feeling of expectation, waiting for its “Zoo Snooze” to begin. All is silent apart from the peacocks’ cries and the frog chorus; just outside the entrance, a wild deer is grazing quietly.
On their visit, members of Brownie troop 3047 from Covington don’t spot any wild deer, but then they are in the middle of a scientific investigation – handling a replica skull of a polar bear. At Point Defiance, overnight guests are encouraged to be animal scientists – exploring and asking questions – in this case swapping Brownie sashes for safari hats.
Once again, there are also public events – either sleeping in the Asia dayroom or, like the Brownies, sleeping with the sharks. On seeing a small dog shark in the Puget Sound Waters exhibit, the girls wonder where they are going to sleep. Dave Glen, the guide for the evening, just smiles, but admits to the adults later, “We’ve got some more exciting sharks for bedtime.”
Once outside, with the lights of Tacoma far away, there is a real feeling of being out in the wild, emphasized when Glen brings out another variation on the flashlight: night-vision goggles. The Zoo Snooze tour concentrates on animals from the Pacific Northwest and farther north, including those in and out of the water. In the semi-darkness, with just one flashlight lighting up the water, the huge white beluga whales come to greet and amaze their nighttime visitors.
Once bedtime arrives, it’s time to reveal the final location for the piles of sleeping bags: a cozy, intimate room, kept warm for its usual residents – several circling sharks. Sleeping bags are laid right up to the floor-to-ceiling viewing windows. As everyone settles down, two girls in pajamas are eye to eye with two nurse sharks resting on the tank floor.
In the morning, after having breakfast, Zoo Snoozers make treats for the elephants who have to find them hidden in their enclosure. Finally, the tired but happy animal scientists head home.
Camp Long
Head to Camp Long park in West Seattle for a simpler family night out, not dependent on animal attraction. Families can get together and rent one of the 10 rustic cabins for a forest sleepover, a great introduction to camping yet still with a solid roof over your head.
The cabins are often used for birthday parties, with families trying a first sleepover or night away from home. Keep it to a simple cook-out and campfire evening or combine your visit with an event at the Environmental Learning Center. The park also features a great climbing area.
Along with that roof and four walls, you have six full-size bunks, water, lights and one outlet. Bathrooms are shared between the cabins, and you need to generate your own heat from your fire pit or fire circle. Wheelchair access to all cabins makes them suitable for a wide range of families – all having in common the urge to get out the s’mores and flashlights.
Wherever you choose, an overnight stay in either the great outdoors or indoors makes for great family memories and a real sense of awe for the natural world.
Becky Gardner is a freelance writer and mother of two sons, who still enjoy playing wolf hide and seek back home in Kirkland.
