Why you might roll your eyes:
Elephants weigh about 9,000 pounds, so if you’ve been to the National Zoo, they’re kinda hard to miss. Do you really need to pay for a tour?
Why you’ll love it:
That private tour of the Elephant Trails—offered Wednesdays and Sundays—includes the barn, normally not open to visitors. It lasts 75 minutes and is limited to ten people, so you can get face time with not only the pachyderms but also their keepers, the type of folks who’ll cheerfully stick an arm where the sun don’t shine when the occasion calls for it. Tickets, $40 per adult, benefit zoo-education and elephant-enrichment programs.
3001 Connecticut Ave., NW; 202-633-3057.
