Wild Animal Safari

On our drive up to Charlotte for the surgery, we decided to take a slight detour.

So we spent Saturday night at a hotel in Pine Mountain, Georgia.

And then we drove through the Wild Animal Safari first thing Sunday morning.

We were advised to rent one of their vans instead of driving our vehicle through the park.

It was a wise decision if you ask me and Grace.

We also bought two bags of animal food.

We were one of the first tourists through the park and the animals met us at the gate. 

In case you didn't notice, there are no windows on the doors.  But there are bars over the back windows.

We were amazed that the animals came right up to the windows and tried to climb into our van!

When Grace saw those long tongues on those big animals, she just said, "They're too big, Momma!" and wouldn't feed any of them.  She sat in the very center of the bench seat and wouldn't move.

We were warned that the zebras could especially be aggressive.

This one came so far into David's window that he hopped over to the passenger side!

Then this guy met him at that window so David ended up straddeling between seats.  I'm glad he didn't get bitten!  Those zebras were hungry!

The tongues kinda creeped Grace out.  They were so looong!

Then we saw the giraffes up ahead.

Giraffes are my favorite.  They are tall and skinny and covered in spots - just like my husband and daughter!

I couldn't believe he reached all the way down and between the bars trying to get some food.

His tongue was by far the longest - at least a foot in length - no exaggeration!  I wish I had gotten a better picture of it - it just kept coming and coming and coming.  And he curled it into circles on itself trying to get at the food.  It was amazing!

There were ostriches.

Most of them were just curious, but some pecked at us trying to get food.

We saw llamas.

They look so funny when they chew.

And they look like they're laughing at you when they're not eating.

We saw reindeer.  They were very docile and let us pet them.  I couldn't believe how soft they are!

This guy followed us for a bit after we drove on.

And here's a momma pig with her babies.

They were so cute!

So was this fella.

Grace liked him enough to actually feed him.

There were several little deer.

Grace really liked the deer.

Then Grace climbed into her Daddy's lap to see more animals and to help him drive.

There was a really big rhino.

Before we knew it, we were back at the entrance where the cows were waiting for us.

I'm not much of a cow fan, unless you're talking steaks or burgers, but I have to admit this is one of my favorite pictures of the trip.  It was just so typical of the animals to loll their tongues around searching for food.  Everytime I look at this photo it makes me giggle.

Finally we left the animals behind and I noticed this sign.  Trust me, we didn't need a reminder to wash our hands.  After all that slobber we really needed a shower...