Day 17---Celebrating Marcia's Birthday

So today is Marcia's birthday and we are not at home.  I wanted to do something that was a little different that she would really enjoy.  I found a Drive Thru Safari Park not far from where we are staying and only a few miles from Natural Bridge, a spot we were going to visit anyway.

We got there by 930 this morning and were probably about the third car through.  We bought four buckets of food for the animals and off we went.  Here are the pics.  Just to mention:  the animals were a little pushy, camels steal the buckets, the animals that can reach into the windows will REALLY reach into the window after those buckets and we have animal feed all over the inside of the truck.  Oh, and we had a BLAST!

When that part was over, we went to a little (or so I thought) zoo area off to to the side.  Turns out they had a LOT of animals there.  What can be cuter than baby pot bellied pigs?

They had kangaroos (all napping), a variety of birds, two tigers, two servals, several giraffes, including a little bitty one that I couldn't get a picture of, some Galapagos tortoises, and some monkeys, including this little baby that was playing.

We were also able to be there when a baby camel got his bottle.  Turns out his momma spent two days in labor with him and then when he finally got pulled out by the zookeepers, she wouldn't take care of him, so he is being hand raised.  He's a big boy, 6 months old, but the size of an 8 month old.  He saw the keeper coming with the bottle and got all excited.  He sucked it dry in record time.

And Marcia fed the big male giraffe.  He wasn't really interested in the food, but she did get slobbered on for her birthday.  Hope it means good luck!

After almost three hours at the safari park, we headed a few miles up the road to Natural Bridge.  There are all kinds of things included with the ticket, but we just did the bridge and part of the walk.  George Washington surveyed the area in the 1750s and Thomas Jefferson actually owned this area and the surrounding 157 acres--he purchased it for the equivalent of $2.40.

It was quite a pretty walk after we took the shuttle down so we wouldn't have to do the 147 steps.  Unfortunately, it was all an uphill slope.  I made it to the Indian Village on the walk while Marcia stopped at the benches on the other side of the Bridge.  The walk back was downhill and much easier. 

After a break this afternoon, we went to dinner at Cracker Barrel, which is about the only choice around here and is therefore packed, just like last night.  Marcia was thrilled however, as the vegetable of the day was boiled cabbage.  So she claimed to have had the perfect birthday.

Tomorrow we will be on the road for several hours on our way to North Carolina to spend the evening with Beth and Sandi.  Tuesday we do the long slog home and Wednesday, I plan on sleeping most of the day!