When Keilee was 5 I took her to Harmony Park Safari.† It was the greatest time.† I don’t know WHY we waiting so long to go back.† It is about an hour from here and it is a drive thru ZOO.† This is seriously one of the coolest places we have ever been.† We made a vow that we are going at least twice a year.
It a a federally funded park with animals roaming free.† You can buy food, which I definitely suggest doing.† They tell you to leave the windows half way up and throw the food on the ground.† We don’t follow directions very well.† We had animals with their heads firmly planted in our windows and eating out of our hands.
I haven’t laughed so hard in forever.† You can stay as long as you like, it loops around and you can go out or go back around.† We were there about 2 hours.
We saw:
Shetland Ponies, Zebras, Buffaloes, Emus, Geese, Goats, Tortoises, Bison, Turtles, Bulls, Albino Turtle, Deer, Pythons, Alpacas, Frogs, Camels, Iguanas, Monkeys, Kangaroo, Alligators, Lemur, †and Peacocks. I am sure I am forgetting several.
Most of these were roaming free except for the camel, reptiles, lemurs and the kangaroo!
It truly felt like an African Safari.† All we needed were bush hats!
The Zebra was my favorite.† Zebras have been my favorite animal all my life.† Zebras and giraffes.† Unfortunately there were no† Giraffes on this safari.
There were so many great moments.† Keilee is a lover of all things animal but she isn’t too fond of emus.† She loves them, but our friend Esther got nipped by one a few years ago and she has been very leery of them since then.† Every time an emu came near it was UP with the windows.† I was laughing so much at her.
The giant TONGUE is a deer.† He licked my camera right when I was taking a picture.† We wondered about the goose.† I can’t find anything that looks like the one in the picture.† We wondered if maybe it was rescued from an oil spill.
I had just gotten LICKED by a deer.† We both got lots of slobber on us!
The Bull was one thing we DID roll up our windows for.† He came right up to the car.† Keilee’s favorites were the Alpacas.
Alpacas are gorgeous!† Look how this sheep is molting!† There were so many animals that my slightly OCD self wanted to take a brush to!
We got to get out to explore the Tortoise and Reptile house.† We loved feeding the Tortoises.† Those suckers were MUCH faster than we thought.† Turtle and the Hare Indeed!
We had such a great time.† Of course at the end of the day there was 2 cups of feed in my car and the windows were streaked with animal slobber.† Nothing a run through the car wash and a vacuum couldn’t fix!
So now we are off on another adventure!† More to come later.
Homeschooling Rocks!
Karen
ìThe greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way its animals are treated.î† ~Mahatma Gandhi
ìSome people talk to animals. Not many listen though. That’s the problem.î† ~A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh
ìThere the wild animals wandered and fed as though they were in a pasture that stretched much farther than a man could see, and there were no settlers.î† ~ Laura Ingalls Wilder