Thursday, March 22, 2007

Arbuckle Wilderness

This past Saturday we ventured on a spontaneous journey to the Arbuckle Wilderness, located in Oklahoma, about 2 hours from our house. We decided it might be the only time we could go with all the other moving things coming up.

The Arbuckle Wilderness is a drive through safari where you get to feed animals from your car. I definitely recommend it if you are looking for some adventure and an adrenaline rush.
We packed up the kids and got in the car and left around 10:30. We stopped in Gainesville to get Subway for Jon and I and some chips for the kids. We packed a lunch for them with other healthy choices but thought since it was a fun and special we'd let them pick out some chips. Chips are not a regular part of our diet so it is a real treat to pick some out. Of course they both picked out Cheetos. I wanted to post a picture of how Isaac eats his in the car.


His way: Dump them in your seat, move your legs out of the way, and play fish for Cheetos! It was a pretty big mess as you can imagine.





Ewan, as you can see is as happy as a lark eating his Cheetos. No complaints from him at all!





The camels were the most exciting to feed. They were definitely the most aggressive and had no problem invading our car and surrounding us until we surrendered our food. I was taking this picture of Jon feeding the camels and when Jon turned his head two camels were sticking their heads in the car on my side making their way into my lap to get the food cups I had left there while taking the picture. Jon motioned for me to look at my window and there were 2 camels in my face heading for an area that I don't want any camel teeth near! I yelled out, "Drive! Drive!" and Jon started rolling up the window. One of the camels hit its head on the top of the door as it was pulling its head out. At the same time I was yelling, "Don't chop its head off!!!!". It was very exciting to say the least and we all had a good laugh about it. Ewan got a little nervous and told Jon to roll up his window because he didn't want the camels to poke his eye out. Another good laugh. We fed emus, sheep, rams, geese, giraffes, and camels. They tell you not to feed the zebras because they can bite--you didn't have to tell us twice. The ostriches were hanging out with the zebras so we didn't feed them. I get really nervous around ostriches. They look so menacing and their necks and beaks look freakishly strong. Talk about poking out your eyes!


Here are some other highlights:




It was a long day. We drove straight from Oklahoma to small group and finally got home around 8:30. We don't skip naps and delay bedtimes very often but this was worth it. There is just something special about building family memories full of laughter, isn't there?

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

I didn't know that exists...We're going to have to take a trip out there.
Marie

mamabrown said...

The boys look so happy with their Cheetos! The animals look happy with their treats as well. Ewan was smart when he said he wanted his window rolled up --- three years old is still a little young to see those big animal faces eye to eye and nose to nose. I bet he enjoyed being so close to the animals since he loves them so much. He seems like he is one happy kiddo. Isaac looks like he had quite a time too! So glad you got to go. I remember taking you when you were little. You enjoyed it too! Love & hugs to you all.

Abu Daoud said...

My wife drove through Arbuckle, but has not visited the wilderness park there. As for us here in the ME, we have plenty of camels around. In fact, though we live in a city of 2 million+ people, we can still find pastors with their herds of sheep near, say, Starbucks.

Meanwhile, we are hoping for a girl in Sepetmber, but as they say here, ma sha' Allah. That is, As God wills.

Kelsey said...

how awesome! what an cool adventure! Maybe I can convince Dan to go (although it scares me a little too!).