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Friday, September 25, 2015

A bucket list checked off

Bearizona was everything I expected it to be and more.  I had been wanting to go there for a couple of years.  Actually ever since we took Tanner down to BYUI where there was a bear world.  Then when we went to The Grand Canyon camping two years ago, I saw signs for Bearizona.  I told Garry that I wanted to go there Labor Day weekend.  The kids all except for Talon had Friday off work and school, so we got up at 6am and headed to Williams which was about 3 hours away.  I LOVED every part of it!! The bears did not disappoint.  They had an area of the park where you could drive through and in that part of it, they had a Junior bear section and in a different part, there was an adult bear section.  We actually drove through the driving part three times.  Once in the morning, once in the afternoon on the tour bus that the park has which is a big bus where they have removed the windows.  The thing that was cool about it was it was raining during that time and so the animals were active in different ways.  Then we drove the drive thru part right as we were leaving in the early evening.  Here are some pictures of the bears.  The Jr. Bears were in the trees.

 The baby bears were actually inside the park in a walk through are and we Cynjyn and Tanner went during their feeding time and got some pictures.
 As we were driving through at the end of the day, an adult bear stopped right in front of our car and unloaded.  I made Taz take a picture of the scat as we drove by, in case I ever am walking in the woods and see something similar, I'll know to look out for bears!

 The bears were just so fun to watch and did precarious things.
 In the enclosure area, they had 2nd year bears and they were very active and playful.
 The babies were precious.
 And one in particular loved to climb this tree.
 On the bus drive through, the driver knew every adult bear by name and told us a little something about each one.

Our second favorites were the wolves.  They had two enclosures, one of arctic wolves and one of regular.  These are the arctic wolves.  We believe they were a family and had the one pup.  They were very active and playful and so cool to watch.

 They especially liked their wood during the rainstorm.
 The regular wolves were sleepy and lethargic when we first saw them.
 But during the bus ride, they came super close to the bus and Garry got a good picture.  During out last drive through, Taz got some a good picture of them close by.  This one ended up coming right to his window and looking in on him.
The buffalo were majestic.  They had a heard of white buffalo and regular bison too.

They had some other animals in the drive thru part too.



We loved the walk through part of the park too.  They had adorable otters and we got to be there during their feeding time and so Cynjyn and I through them some little fish.
 Taz got a good picture of them sleeping.
We loved the foxes and the beaver and the javalina's and the badger and the bobcats.  We got to see them get fed too.





When we first got there, the beaver was sleeping in his little house, but we could see him.

Garry got a picture of the porcupines, but they were hard to see too.

But Tanner was obsessed with the badger.  It was almost flirting with him.  It would follow him around on the rocks and stop and let him snap a picture.  It was so funny.
Of course he kept reminding us that he is of the house of Hufflepuff!!


Then there was the bird show.  They showed the birds three times per day and we went to all three shows even though it was the same spiel.  It was just so much fun.  The birds would fly right over us and we were brushed several times by their wings.



The petting zoo was a bust with only some untouchable chickens and friendly poopy goats.  But it was a fun little break.
 There was one very pregnant pig by the petting zoo.

We were trying to take a variety of pictures and so I did take out my selfie stick at one point.
 We were trying different ways to use it. 
 Taz was horrified and claimed he didn't know us, but we convinced him to come for a picture at last.
 I had packed us a picnic lunch and there was an eating area and so we enjoyed a nice lunch together.
 More bird show fun...

Fun was had at a gift shop that they were working on. 
 They had a meet and greet session with a ferret and an armadillo.  Cynjyn got to "pet" them.  the armadillo was hiding.

When the keeper put it down, it finally came out of hiding.  We had got a hotel for the night, but we were done by 4:00 and so we cancelled the motel and stopped for some dinner in Williams and then headed home.  We got home about 8:30. 
 We ate at a restaurant called Kicks (on route 66).  We enjoyed some 1/2 price appetizers.
 Cynjyn and I were in love with the bowls they served the salads in.
 Tanner got some smothered pepper burger, he ended up not liking it very much.
 Taz got a bison burger that was delicious.
 Garry got a sandwich with homemade potato chips and I got a pesto pasta that I didn't really enjoy.



It was a long day.  At lunch I thanked everyone for indulging me and going on one of my dream trips.  They all admitted that it was a blast and there were so glad I decided to go there. 
As we left Arizona and headed back into Nevada, the sun bid us adieu and welcomed us home. A great family trip and so many fun memories made.



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