A Weekend at the Zoo!

I hope everyone out there had a great 4th of July! We sure did! We ended up spending the weekend down in Mena with my parents, and to say that we had a full house would be an understatement! Their house has 4 bedrooms, and into those 4 bedrooms we managed to pack: my mom & dad, my sister Jamie, the 5 of us, my Aunt Nancy, my cousin Steve and his wife Jennifer and their 3 kids, a friend of their family's named "Bubba," their son's girlfriend, their Shih-Tsu and my parents' 3 cats and 2 dogs. *whew! Needless to say, beds and showers were quite the commodity, but with the camper set up in the yard and a rotating shower schedule, it actually all worked out just fine! It was great to get to visit with them, especially since we only get to see them about twice a year and they are so much fun to be around!

On the first day of their visit, it rained all morning but then cleared off enough for us to make our way to what turns out to be the world's creepiest and dirtiest zoo.





It was truly terrifying on so many levels! Every animal the guide tried to introduce us to was either poisonous, prone to biting or carried some form of disease. I fear this raccoon may have somehow possibly been all 3!





Our guide also acted like I was just crazy for not letting Autumn and Bear go into a cage to pet the mountain lion, which he claimed was "friendly." I had my doubts, and no amount of his or Autumn's protesting was going to budge me! I did, however, let them pet this suspicious-looking creature. Hmmm...





After that, we made our way through the many, many massive piles of poop back to the smelliest pig I have ever encountered, and then it was on to a giant alligator, which we had the dubious privilege of observing from a rotting, rickety dock just a few feet away.





The man brought over a dead rat to try to feed to the alligator, who was uninterested. Apparently determined to get something to eat a dead rat, he brought another one over (in his bare hands, mind you), and placed it on the dock to see if the owl that had perched itself over our heads might be interested.





Between the owl and the gator, I could not shake the feeling that we were being hunted. That, combined with the intermittent breeze that kept blowing the pig smell over our way along with occasional blasts of rotting fish stench from the otter cage was just too much for me to handle, so I held my breath and navigated the minefield of manure piles back to the exit and got the heck out of there! I just cannot describe to you how grossed out I was. Never again! Ick!





After our failed experiment in zoo-going, we drove the rest of the way up Rich Mountain to ride the train and do a little exploring. Much better! The only problem with this leg of the journey is that women who are seven and a half months pregnant apparently do not fit so well in tiny trains! : )





We made the best of it though!











Stay tuned for the adventures of Steve Williams the Snake Charmer, pictures of a pregnant lady in a bikini and finally... Fireworks!

For now, I am off to spend a little quality time with my good friend the couch. I'm feeling a little not so much today, and it's raining anyway, so I'm thinking it is a good time for some R&R!