Dairy Queen Grill & Chill - NW 39th Avenue

Close to the teaching zoo, with a full hot breakfast before you head out. Most other sights are a drive.

A casual sit-down Mexican place, easy for a weeknight dinner with kids in tow.

A shaded quarter-mile trail past 70-plus species, short enough for a toddler to walk. Zoo parking is off North Road, not where your GPS sends you.

More than 1,700 fossils, minerals and rocks around a college lobby, meteorites included. Short, and made for a kid deep in a rocks-and-fossils phase.

Changing shows of photographs, sculpture and video, so there's something new to talk about each time. A quiet look, not a hands-on stop.

Dome shows made with kids in mind, including a dinosaur story. Get there before it starts: there's no late entry and no food in the dome.