A Great Adventure

     On Saturday I took Chase and his friend to Great Adventure. It was one of the best days I have had in a long time, and I have some great days, so that's saying a lot.

     Our day started with a trip to through the safari. We've gone through this before. Many times. Here, in Florida at Disney World, all sorts of animal sightings. For some reason seeing animals right up close is fascinating to us. Zoos I don't do. They upset me. This safari trip was different though. Maybe it was the energy of those two little boys, or that it was just me as the adult this time, or the day, or the pull of the moon. I don't know why I loved it so much. I just did.

     The first animals we saw were these big ostriches. Big huge feathered birds that walk around like they own the place. Tapping their big beaks on people's car windows. Poking their necks back and forth. Standing in the middle of the road. They reminded me of the moose at Yellowstone Park. The first one you see is exciting. You stop, admire, take a few pictures. By the third or fourth, you are just zooming by, jaded by the previous sightings. On to more interesting, more elusive animals.

    Next animal, the elephant. Big, gorgeous, wrinkled, grey animals.
"I feel sorry for them," Vinnie said.
"Me too...."
This why seeing animals in captivity is hard. I always try to justify my sadness by the fact that my money for the tickets might be helping them somehow.

"What's next, Boys?" I ask.
Chase looks at the map. "I think we've got some zebras coming up," he told me.
The zebras are my absolute favorite. Right? I think they are so gorgeous. We took some pictures.

The whole ride through the safari were various animals with big antlers. I wasn't allowed to stop or pull over for them because apparently they look to much like deers and deers are a dime a dozen and we've got a big day here. No time for boring deer like looking animals.
Jay-ded.

We went through the rest. The lions and tigers made me the saddest. There homes weren't that nice and watching that pacing of a lion in a small area makes me feel claustrophobic. We saw bears that were so cute, big black ones, brown bears, all of them reminded us of dogs. The way their snouts looked and their head movements. I loved them. The baboons were cool too. One baby baboon was apparently upset about something and pouting. An older one, we thought the mother was trying to "talk" to it. She kept putting her arms up with a "I don't know what's wrong with you," gesture. It was so human like. I just don't know where they came up with that whole evolution thing? ;) That's a joke, I know we evolved from Flannery.

So we were nearing the end and Chase says, "Don't you think that the geese just ruin everything?" Now this made me laugh from the moment it came out of his mouth because I knew exactly what he was talking about but I wanted to hear what he had to say. "What do you mean they ruin everything?" I prompted. "You know, they're everywhere. I have to see them all the time," he answered, slightly disgusted. I have been laughing about it ever since.