Adventures on Rainy Days

Once upon a time there was a trip to Alaska that didn't happen.

So a last minute trip to Lake Erie did.

But it rained

and rained

and RAINED.

We saw the sun maybe twice in very brief moments before nightfall.

So our plans to enjoy Lake Erie and the pool were thwarted.

And the ability to leave early were thwarted by a ridiculous fee

that left us stuck with the mindset 

that we were going to make the most of this adventure.

So we ate

We found this Dairy Depot on the way to the state park.
Best. Raspberry. Smoothie. Ever.
Even though there were blueberries not raspberries in it.
But we practically froze eating our treats at the picnic
table out front.
4 chili dogs for $5.99? What a steal!

Our room wasn't ready when we got to the lodge so they gave
us bikes to ride around the grounds.

We found this bungee trampoline ride on the beach
that just happened to coincide with a brief moment
of sunshine. Ellie loved it! 

Our view from the lobby our ENTIRE first day at the park.

We read and played games until Monte decided that he was going to eat the funnel fries from the snack bar until he got sick.

 They loved them!

Like ordered them everyday after that loved them.

We snuck in activities in between the rain.

Like our morning hike through a mostly dead forest.

When I pointed out a bug on McDaniel's knee 

she freaked out wildly 

and accidentally punched herself in the crotch.

I handled it poorly

and fell to my knees in laughter.

Then it started to rain.

We also played Walleyball in the lodge's indoor court.

Monte tried to give Ellie some serving advice and when she served it into a 90 degree angle smack dab into the wall for the 13th time

I handled it poorly again

and fell to my knees in laughter.

The next day we had more than a touch of cabin fever 

McDaniel cabin fever bed jumping.

so we made the decision

RAIN OR SHINE

to leave the lodge and drive an hour to an African Safari.

And we passed this on the way.

A nuclear power plant.

 Made me creeped out a teence.

This safari is part drive through and feed the animals, 

part walk through and see the animals like a zoo 

and part pig races.

Yes! I know.

Hang on, I will get to that later.

We bought 2 cups of feed and a bag of carrots to feed the animals.

There was a lot of instructions by the "Ranger" who was basically a college student in a vest.

We were told not to put our fingers anywhere near the animal's teeth

and if there is a struggle with the animal wanting to take the entire cup of feed

LET them take the cup.

Don't be a hero.

Oh yeah, and honk if you are in trouble.

The animals are not the least bit inhibited and have NO PROBLEM coming right up to your car window to see what is happening, in the form of food, in your vehicle.

So adorable.

These llamas made us pull out our copy of
Disney's "The Emperor's New Groove"
when we got home.

There were a fair amount of babies walking around.

Baby llamas and baby deer. 

Little babies. 

Little babies running in and out of traffic.

McDaniel was absolutely convinced that Monte was going to run over the skull of one of these precious babies.

So she screamed,

"Baby! Baby! Baby!"

instructing Monte

like a hysterical Justin Bieber

at a drive through African Safari.

This buffalo decided to take the entire feed cup

after a brief struggle where Monte forgot the rules of the ranger for a second.

Then he came over to my side to see if I forgot the rules too.

He licked my entire window. 

I was fascinated by this creature and was leaned in really close checking him out when Monte decided to

unbeknownst to me

roll down my window.

I could feel the hot breath of the buffalo on my face.

So I screamed loud and long right in his face.

 The buffalo, not Monte.

He was a bit alarmed.

After the aggressive buffalo, Monte didn't even roll down the window for this elk.

 Check out these antlers!

 Mr. Yak seemed quite put out with us and gave a 

pretty distinct stink eye to Monte.

 Of course he wasn't happy with his bangs. 

 A white zebra!

We were somewhat disappointed that after dodging baby llamas and deer 

and getting way too up close and personal with a buffalo 

and the stink eye from a yak having a bad hair day

that the giraffes and zebras were behind fences.

But I guess the safari is just protecting their investment.

Or there was an "incident" to decide that they better

FOR THE LOVE OF PETE

keep these animals behind a fence.

The giraffes have dark purple tongues that wrapped around the carrot and pulled it into his mouth like an elephant uses its trunk.

Amazing!

Ok. I won't make your poor tired computer download one more picture, so I will leave the pig races and monkeys for the next post.

Stay tuned!