Our next stop was Bear World! There are lots of pictures in this one, so 'bear' with me.
Lame, I know.
All of the rides were included in the price of admission, so the kids could ride whatever they wanted as many times as they wanted. This may have been even better than the bears to them. Grandma was a trooper and rode with the kids when I couldn't. "Chicken Little" didn't always want to go by herself, and I literally couldn't get in some of the rides.
After watching this one and realizing it only spun around silly when you turned the wheel (which I didn't encourage in ours), I hopped in the big bear. This was pretty benign.
So I got on the car ride with Laney. I was twisted up like a pretzel and THEN bumped in the air to boot. Grandma made it look easy, so I decided to give her a break and try it out for myself. Not my best decision of the day, but I managed to avoid delivering my child at Bear World.
Of course we hit the petting zoo, too. Laney wasn't so sure about it, but Carter wanted to feed everything. A lot.
The little goats would wait for people to come up to the machines and just stick their mouths at the bottom. This hard-headed goat met his match when C decided to get some food out.
Who could pass up this photo op? I wish someone would have gotten a picture of the 'behind the scene' - literally. Grandma was holding up Laney somehow, and I was on one foot while Carter was sitting on one of my legs.
These little guys were SOOO CUTE. For a $$, of course, you could feed them a bottle. Honestly, I could have watched them play all day. The kids only had so much patience for it, and then it was back to the rides.
We took a 'Curator Tour' of the facility to see all of the critters. We were able to drive through with our own car, too, but you had to leave the windows up and not stop, so pictures weren't really an option then.
This is Rusty. He is one of the bigger guys at the park. I think the lady said he weighed about 600 pounds. Hard to tell from the picture, but he was pretty hefty! Funny story... there are several scheduled stops along the route for people to feed the animals. It's a BIG rule, the only rule really, that you can't feed until the truck comes to a stop. Don't want to hurt the animals. We found Rusty waiting for us, literally, at the last stop. About 2 stops ahead, you could see him sitting on the side of the road on his bottom just hanging out. He was right by the 'designated stop' sign. It was pretty cute.
Nice Dollar store shades, huh? They didn't have any girly ones, so L got stuck with the black ones. The fashionable Hello Kitty glasses got left in the car at home.
This is one of three wolves they have on the premises. He is a Timber wolf and was actually a little scared of the bread. Laney had no problem with the Black bears and Grizzlies we were feeding, but she got a little anxious when the wolf came up. Go figure.
These little guys were SOOO CUTE. For a $$, of course, you could feed them a bottle. Honestly, I could have watched them play all day. The kids only had so much patience for it, and then it was back to the rides.
We took a 'Curator Tour' of the facility to see all of the critters. We were able to drive through with our own car, too, but you had to leave the windows up and not stop, so pictures weren't really an option then.
The tour guide handed out a basket of food for each person at the beginning of the tour. Different food types for the different animals. These pictures are actually in opposite order of the way we went, but that's ok. You get the idea.
The guide said there were about 45 bears in the park. We didn't see all of them; some were snoozing in their hidey-holes, some were just hiding in the grass. Many would move from stop to stop with us to get the most food. All of the bears in the next few shots are Black Bears - even if their fur isn't. And I think all of these bears were born in captivity. None were plucked from their mommies in the middle of Yellowstone or anything. No need for PETA. :) The park started off as a place for 'acting' bears to come in the off season. They then got their rehab license.
This is Rusty. He is one of the bigger guys at the park. I think the lady said he weighed about 600 pounds. Hard to tell from the picture, but he was pretty hefty! Funny story... there are several scheduled stops along the route for people to feed the animals. It's a BIG rule, the only rule really, that you can't feed until the truck comes to a stop. Don't want to hurt the animals. We found Rusty waiting for us, literally, at the last stop. About 2 stops ahead, you could see him sitting on the side of the road on his bottom just hanging out. He was right by the 'designated stop' sign. It was pretty cute.
Nice Dollar store shades, huh? They didn't have any girly ones, so L got stuck with the black ones. The fashionable Hello Kitty glasses got left in the car at home.
This is one of three wolves they have on the premises. He is a Timber wolf and was actually a little scared of the bread. Laney had no problem with the Black bears and Grizzlies we were feeding, but she got a little anxious when the wolf came up. Go figure.
They clearly know the drill here.
This is Bridgette. She is one of the few Grizzlies they have. The Gs are kept separate as they are a bit territorial. They are also the only bears who get meat. The other bears get protein pellet type food.
The other animals were kept in a different area for obvious reasons. The white Elk was really pretty. Not albino, just white. There is actually a white Elk baby there as well, but I didn't get a good picture of him. Very pretty, very rare.
A few bison, too...
Some sweet deer who knew we had some yummy stuff for them.
Goats... and babies up there somewhere...
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