Yesterday we went a couple different places.  We started our day at the Reid Park Zoo in Tucson.  Its a small zoo, but the kids really liked it.  We a loop before lunch, and the kids got to see Lions, Tigers and bears oh my!  We also saw some elephants, giraffe and a bunch of other cool animals.  I would say the highlight was the Otters, they always put on a good show.  After that, we drove over to the University of Arizona and visited the Flandrau Science Center & Planetarium.  It was really cool, we got to learn about the solar system, the desert eco-system, got to look at over 35000 rock specimens and played with the Puzzles, Proofs & Patterns.  All in all, it was a great day.  If you have ever visited places like these, you know that they can be costly, especially with a family of our size. 

Something we have done to help off set the costs of these places, is join into reciprocal programs. 

The first one we joined, is the ASTC Passport program.  We became members of a museum back in our home state of Montana, and it came with this program.  This one is great, it allows for free admission into the other centers that are a part of the program.  For our time there it would have cost us $64 and with this it didn’t cost us anything.

We also got the AZA Reciprocal Program.  This one is for Zoos.  It works differently, and the benefit you get is based on your home zoo.  We looked through our list, and chose the Baton Rouge Zoo to become members of.  We later found out that there is one that actually includes both the AZA and the ASTC if you join it.  The AZA membership got us into the Reid Park Zoo for $19.50 for 6 of us, and without it it would have cost us $50.  So it saved us a lot.

Another one we have, but didn’t use here, is for Children’s Museums.  Emmett was gifted this one for his birthday.  It gets us discounts at children’s museums around the country.  

Check out a post we made about Museum Memberships here.