Fossil Rim

When Jim & Tricia were here, we also headed over to Fossil Rim in Glen Rose, TX. It's kinda like a safari! You buy some food pellets and your tickets, then drive through the reserve, where animals roam free.

Except the cheetahs. They are caged. :)

We loved it! The animals, especially the European red deer (fondly known as "reindeer" in our car!), love the pellets and will come up very close to your car to eat them. The giraffes are supposed to be as friendly, but they were not interested in us this day.

It was SO neat to see these animals roaming free in their "natural" habitats - way cooler than the zoo. Although I do love me a good zoo. :)

We were the last car to enter the reserve that evening, and the caretaker followed us through to make sure everyone was out of the park. He acted as our unofficial tour guide. He made the cheetahs run fast, told us about how the reserve works and some of the animals they had there. He even let us hold a real ostrich egg!! And we learned that he and his wife are fellow BYU alums. Awesome.

You should really go here if you haven't before! It was a really neat, unique experience and we had a wonderful time here.

The Dallas World Aquarium

This past month, we visited the Dallas World Aquarium with Carl & Jen and Jim &Tricia. It was really neat! They have most of it set up like a rainforest that you explore, with monkeys and other animals swinging around and flying by. The sloth was even close enough to touch! (But we weren't allowed :( )

 

We saw a huge beluga whale, a lot of monkeys, walked through a shark tunnel, with sharks swimming all around, and watched crocodiles being fed. It was very entertaining and I learned a lot about different animals.

We watched the black jaguar for a while (from above). The trainers emptied the exhibit and one of them walked through leaving little bits of meat all around and spraying the exhibit with some sort of cheap perfume. Apparently, jaguars get bored and when the trainer sprays that perfume, they feel the need to re-mark their territory and it is more interesting to them. Didn't know that before!


Our favorite part was the Mayan dance that some of the workers did in the afternoon. It was really neat, and just what James had come specifically to see! :)

We loved visiting the DWA! I'd recommend it as a place to go see. It's a little pricey, but there were definitely a lot of cool animals and things to see. Thanks for taking us, Jim & Tricia!