lions & tigers & bears, oh my!

One of the activities that was included in our Summer Bucket List was to go on a safari! Now, we live in what is basically the "country" aka rolling hills, cornfields everywhere, etc. Where are we going to go to be on an actual safari? Well, no we didn't take a quick day-trip to Africa. Instead, that's where Lake Tobias Wildlife Park comes in!

I had received a great deal on tickets (BOGO) through LivingSocial and knew that Peyton would absolutely love it! So, this past weekend we finally made the trip up to the park and had ourselves a grand ole time. **this is a photo dump post - you have been warned!**

The trek to the park took about an extra HOUR longer than we had planned for, just because we were stuck in stopped traffic for wayyy too long. Luckily, Peyton had the iPad and some snacks to keep her occupied. We were so excited to finally make it to the park, park the car, and start our adventure.

First up was a rhea and his/her babies. Do you see all the little fluffy balls of cuteness!? Then she met a skunk, which she certainly was not interested in petting. We tried to check out the lions, but they were too busy taking their afternoon naps. So we moved on to the baboons and alligators.

We then moved on to the black bears {& the bengal tigers}. Unfortunately, all of the animals were pretty inactive since it was pretty dang toasty outside - which seems to happen any time we visit a zoo and makes for a not-so-exciting look at the animals. At least the bears were relatively close to the viewing window!

 

In the same area as the bears, there were the capybara - aka creepily huge guinea pig/groundhog mix. If it weren't for the fence, I would not even dare to get that close to that rodent, haha. Then again, if it weren't for fences, I wouldn't get close to pretty much all of the animals we encountered at the park - ha!

We tried to creep on the zebras while they ate lunch, but all we could see were their bootays, so we went to check out Mr. Ostrich instead. He was friendly, but clearly looking for a treat! {The park sells graham crackers by the pack so you can feed the animals on the safari or at the petting zoo - but people feed the caged animals too anyways.}

 

The tigers were {of course} snoozing away and basking in the sun up where we could barely see them. But man, can you see how big that paw is!? That is one HUGE kitty cat. Luckily, the zebras decided they were done lunch and were ready for social hour. Peyton ran over to see them and was soon swarmed and almost trampled by all of the other park visitors who realized an animal was available for interaction.

 

 

Next up: The petting zoo! Aka: goat overload. There was a pair of goats that were getting *ahem* frisky *ahem* every chance they got. In fact, in the bottom right picture of the collage below, you can kind've see that I cropped those little buggers out. Also - since when is it okay to put a leash on your child and deem it acceptable or anything short of lazy? {See: the little girl with the pink striped shirt who is tackling a goat in the second picture.} I just don't get it.

 

 

We went to the park on a Friday - but it should have been a Wednesday aka "Hump Day" because we met a camel! {Although, I guess the frisky goats did kind've decide that it was their own personal Wednesday, ha!}

 

 

After the petting zoo we made our way over to the reptile house/exotics building. Here, Peyton met a burmese python and all I could think about was the snake scene from Harry Potter and The Sorcerer's Stone. I then almost had a heart attack when Peyton decided that she was too excited to wait in line to pet the baby alligator's back and instead reached for the end with the rows of sharp teeth instead!! Silly girl.

 

 

We stopped for a quick photo op while on our way back to see if the tigers had woken up yet. Peyton insisted we pose together like this, so pose like this we did! :)

 

And then much to our surprise {& delight!} one of the tigers had woken up and come down from his perch! A certain little girl was super happy to finally get to see the tigers a little closer.

 

A camel was on the loose after that :P and Peyton tried for a quick pet before she was again swarmed with other park go-ers.

 

 

We finally got in line for the safari ride and after about 2 busloads worth of people in front of us got on their buses and zoomed off, it was our turn!

 

  

 









 

After the safari, we had the chance to go back around through the park and see what all was awake now that the sun wasn't so sizzlin' hot. Finally, the lions and tigers had woken up! {I'll bet it was their dinnertime!}

  

 

 

Overall, we had a wonderful trip there and we can not wait to go back! Rarely do we ever get to go anywhere as a family and just get to relax and not have to worry about rushing through seeing everything {we ended up staying until the park was closed!}. We went around to each exhibit about 3 times each and really just enjoyed our time together. It was wonderful and I would totally recommend it for anyone in the area! :)