Mood:  chatty

Summer always makes me think about vacations. Ah! The joy of family vacations. My family always took the best ones. At least I always thought so. Many of you would probably think that your family's trips were better. That's the thing about it. The memories that you have with your relatives are always the best. No one can take them away. That's why I always want to make my family vacations full of great memories. Unfortunately, some aspects are memorable in a bad way. For me, long trips always seem to be a practice in patience - especially with three boys. But, that's a post for another time.

Recently we had one of those memorable trips. Since Mom has been getting older, we decided we needed to take the 15 hour trip to NJ more than once a year. Usually we try to do something special while we are there. This past March, however, we chose to extend our trip home and spend an extra night in Virginia to explore that beautiful state. I had done some research and had found two places that I thought that the kids would love, but kept it a secret. Everything worked as planned. We spent the night at a nice motel (with an indoor swimming pool of course), got up the next morning, ate breakfast, and started to drive. The kids asked questions the whole time but our lips were sealed. When they finally saw the sign to The Virginia Safari Park, they burst with excitement.

This park is more than a zoo, here you get up close and personal with the animals. First, you pull up to a drive through window and purchase your tickets. Along with your ticket you get buckets (I'm talking buckets, not just bucket) of feed to take on your journey. You are allowed to open windows and open sliding doors on vans, but you must remain seated at all times and not leave your vehicle. After that, you go through two gates, and your adventure begins. There were emus, ostriches, llamas and all different kinds of deer and antelope. Most just kept munching their grass or stayed huddled in groups until...they spotted the buckets. Then, whoosh, we were surrounded! Animals of all sorts sticking their heads in the windows and practically jumping in through the one sliding door we had opened! Jacob (3) took one look at the mad herd, screamed and got as far away as possible. Joshua (8) was fascinated but terrified, so he followed Jacob into the back seat. John Allen (12) and I were laughing hysterically, while Sarah, who was driving, kept trying to figure out how to navigate the van through the mess. And that was just the beginning! Eventually, after breaking through, we were able to drive on, only to see elk, zebra, bison and more of the aforementioned mammals and birds. One pesky emu kept chasing us and sticking his head through the window for more food every time we stopped. Joshua did relax enough to be able to feed the animals - until a camel stole the bucket right out of his hands and ate the rest of his food! The ever wary Jacob, however, stayed his distance, but finally calmed down enough to be able to enjoy watching the feeding frenzy. 

Finally, well over an hour (perhaps two) later we pulled into the main building's parking lot. The gift shop was fabulous and we bought some great souvenirs, then went off to the second half (yes, I said second half!) of the park. The second part is a walk through mini-zoo with monkeys, a petting farm, kangaroos, turtles, snakes, tigers (safely in cages of course) and a great walk through aviary with the birds flying and walking around freely. This is where John Allen was in his glory. He loves animals. He kept trying to coax the beautiful birds to come to him so that he could pet them. One colorful bird kept creeping almost to within arms reach, but never quite there. John Allen thought that he had made a friend. Apparently, so did the bird. The bird wanted to cultivate the friendship and became quite upset when JA started to leave. We had all exited the building and thought that JA was behind us when we heard a terrible scream. I ran back in only to find the bird, feathers flaring,  pecking at his feet and legs. Finally, I had to stand between the love struck bird and JA and walk slowly to the door until we could finally escape.

Needless to say, that was a day that we will never forget. The pictures we took were fabulous. All on our cell phones since we had forgotten our digital camera. Unfortunately, we got new phones soon after that and found that the salesman had not transferred the photos like he said that he would. We have the old phones and can see the pictures, but don't know how to transfer them to our computer. Anything you see here I downloaded from the park's website. If you click on The Virginia Safari Park logo at the top of this post, or on any one of the highlighted links, they will take you straight to the park's web page. If you are ever in Virginia, The Virginia Safari Park is worth seeing. Just make sure you have a camera!

In my next Family Adventures post, I'm going to talk about the next day of our Virginia trip - The Virginia Museum of Transportation. And, yes, we did buy a new camera (thank you Wal-Mart!). Check back soon, and I'll see you next time!

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