Before School Started, We Departed

 "Guns have metamorphosed into cameras...Now nature tamed, endangered, mortal , needs to be protected from people."

-Susan Sontag

 

A family on the Riverwalk.

Summer was winding to a close and so much needed to be done to prepare for the fall.  It's a feeling I hadn't had for fourteen years, but the ritual carefree summers, school in the fall, and the countdown to spring begins; is once again a part of my life as my little one started her first year of school.

We decided to take one last trip to Seaworld to use those season passes before they expire and enjoy the last of summer.  Zoey was ecstatic, but I was nervous we would have to leave John behind once again.  Fortune smiled on us and last minute John finished the job, so we picked him up in Ozona, (a few hours south of here) and made our way to San Antonio once again, arriving late Friday night.

In the gardens at the Alamo.

Our hotel was right near the Alamo, which we hadn't visited previously, so I insisted we visit the
landmark on our way to breakfast.  The small mission/museum/battleground contains beautiful gardens, accounts of famous historical figures, and intriguing artifacts.  This provided an excellent brief history lesson for Zoey and a nice detour for the morning.

Driving into Seaworld in the summer was much different than it had been before. Steady streams of cars clogged the entrance and a flood of people poured forth and through the gates.  Strollers, large families, and mounds of backpacks and bags jammed up the checkpoints until we were allowed  into the park. 

The sun reflecting off the  dark pavement combined with 100°+ temperatures caused us to all feel overwhelmed by the heat almost immediately.  We ducked into indoor exhibits to find relief from the heat, but it was only temporary.  We decided to try a roller coaster and found that most of the visitors were either watching the aquatic shows or escaping to the water-park, leaving little to no lines for the roller coasters.  YAY!

One good-looking couple in downtown San Antonio.

Karlie, John and I traded off Zoey duty on the larger rides and thoroughly enjoyed the cool breezes and thrills of the coasters.  Zoey had recently gone through a growth spurt and now qualified for the 42" height restriction rides.  Approaching each new ride lead to lots of anxiety for her, even tears at times, but immediately after each ride she insisted on going again and again, which was fine due to the lack of lines.

Having already seen all the water-shows, we decided to brave the water-park.  The lines were massive and the  pools were crowded, but we enjoyed ourselves, not even noticing the heat the rest of the day.

On the Riverwalk.

Dinner in downtown San Antonio was an amazing churrascaria (Brazilian Barbeque) named Fogo De Chao, followed by a couples evening on the Riverwalk as Karlie took Zoey to bed.  I couldn't have asked for more.


We rose early the next morning to travel towards Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch, a drive-thru safari, expecting the animals to be most active early in the morning.  I had seen these safaris on Travel Channel and the like, so once I found we had one here in Texas, I didn't want to miss out.

The nice lady at the gate took our money, handed us bags of undesirable looking pellet feed and told us to not feed the animals by hand, but to drop it on the ground...I don't think many people follow this rule, us included.  There were deer of every sort, a couple lazy rhinos (in enclosure), wildebeest, mountain sheep, buffalo, big horn cattle (bigger than the buffalo to our surprise) and the like.  The elk were super docile and patient, sticking their head into the car and accepting a single morsel of feed at a time.  

The ostriches on the other hand were anything but docile.  They showed no fear of cars or human contact,  They would spot the car and charge, then bravely stretch their neck through window into your space (if you were still in that space and not climbing over the seat) and quickly, almost violently snatching feed from our hands or wherever they could find it, sometimes trying to take a finger to two too...greedy birds.  These assertive birds even caused some cars to quickly roll up windows in fear of the overgrown chickens.

Entering the zebra area, signs warned that they do bite.  We observed the warning and began tossing feed to the roadside, when John realized, the zebras had devised a way to get hand fed despite the warning.  The result was a big toothey grin, allowing you to toss the feed pass their quivering lips into their gaping mouths. A hilarious sight.

The tour ended with a walk through monkey, parrot, kangaroo, giraffe and lemur exhibits.  The petting zoo was full of disinterested, overfed goats and one young deer. A nice gift shop displayed many souvenirs we neither needed, nor have the room for in our tiny home, so we settled with a coloring book for Zoey to remember her adventure.

The trip was a great end to a great summer, and the wildlife park is a definite must see if you are ever out that way, but be sure to get in early in the day to avoid tired animals and long lines, it was worth the effort.

(The video is a bit wiggly at first, but gets better...sorry :)