Up, Up, and Away!

I love traveling, always have. Some of my favorite childhood memories are of big family vacations, caravaning  across the US. With 20 or so  family members and a line of cars. From Tennessee to San Antonio, Arkansas to Florida and well basically everywhere in-between. I can remember pulling up at Graceland and being so excited to sit in the Pink Jeep from Blue Hawaii with my Godmother and take a picture. Screaming when the Zebra at the Wildlife Ranch tried to stick its head in the car window, (While my parents laughed and took pictures by the way). And well so many other memories that in themselves should be their own Blog posts, so more on that to come. 

While I have always been fascinated with traveling, it has always been the same for me. Only Road-trips or Cruises. Yes that's it. No flying for me. Never have, and always said that I likely would never fly, unless it was to a place that I REALLY wanted to go and only if a road trip was not possible.

About a week ago I finally caved. Yes people. I flew. Got on a plane and went to Las Vegas. It was awesome! The flight itself was not near as bad as I expected. While I admit the whole packing for flying thing really threw me for a loop. Good Lord! Only certain things allowed in your carry-ons, checked bags limited in weight, What to bring, what to leave home. I am a notorious over packer so it was difficult for me. 

We had an early morning flight out of New Orleans direct to Las Vegas. It was definitely different for me. Going through security wasn't as bad as I thought it would be. Actually went pretty quickly, and I'm glad to know my tweezers and toothbrush aren't a matter of national security. 

I will admit that for a few days leading up to the trip I was very nervous about flying. But as soon as I took my seat I was fine. I sat by the window and spent just about the entire flight taking pictures and looking at the changing landscape. Did you know they fly over the Grand Canyon going into and out of Vegas. It was beautiful! 

Not a bad pic for being taken with my crappy old iPhone 4 eh?

 On the way home.... The Grand Canyon just before sunset.

Dallas, at night, from the air..... Soooooooo pretty! (Well honestly I have never seen anything from the air at night so I'm sure more seasoned flyers are laughing at that but so what! I still thinks it's pretty... lol)

All - in - all I would say it was a success! 

So, where are we flying to next??????

Time for a trip

Look who I found hanging out in my backpack. I guess it's time for another trip. Hope he does not leave without me!  

Al da Gator is ready to go! 

Wildlife Ranch, San Antonio Texas

San Antonio was so much fun. Such a beautiful city with so much to see and do. One of the things I knew I had to see while I was there was to visit the Wildlife Ranch. It is a Wildlife preserve that is home to a gaggle of animals. From Giraffes to Lamas, and even Texas Longhorns.
As a little girl on a trip with my family my parents brought me there. It was one of the most traumatic experiences I had as a child. (Well except for that time I got lost in that Hotel in Arkansas for 4 hours, but that's a whole other story) You see, all of the animals roam around freely. You drive through the preserve in your car, with the windows rolled down and when you purchase your admission they give you bags of feed. So the animals come right up to your car and eat sometimes right out of your hand. On my first trip there. I was traumatized by a Zebra. FYI Zebras are jerks. They bite, they are rude and they stick there entire heads through your window and steal the feed bag right out of your hand... And as a 4 year old child It scared me for life!
But any-who! I decided to give the place another try.. and I am glad I did.
Once we arrived and got our tickets (and bags of feed) we drove in. It is a one way road through the entire place, about 4 miles long and has many different areas, some of the animals are separated I am assuming because they cannot all play together nicely.
As we were driving in we spotted our first animal. A Buffalo who knew how this shindig works, lets just call him Gus. Well Gus stood at the front of the line of cars and slowly mozzied his way to each car getting his fill of feed from each.

"Excuse me ladies, do you have any Grey Pu Pon?"

 

After giving Gus there his fill of feed we drove on. Our next encounter was with a Texas Longhorn who had taken up residence right smack dab in the middle of the road blocking us and not allowing cars to pass. As when you did he would swing his big ol` horns every so slowly, and preventing you from passing. He was also Mean Mugging everyone... We actually had to call the emergency pone number provided by the parks service because we sat there for 15 mins not able to pass cause he was being a Bully (see what I did there? lol) How about we call him Brutus the Bull.. Yea he looked like a Brutus to us. What do you think?

 "You shall not pass!"

 

After that is was pretty much smooth sailing Lots of different animals. Some eating right out of our hands. Some that wouldn't come near the cars, some that would stick thier whole heads inside the car to say hello.

 "Helloooooo"

 Bambi!

 No clue what this was but it stunk to high heaven.

 Can you see the deer?

 "Heyyyyy Whasup???"

"You Talking to me????"

And last but not least the Zebras... Jerks.... 

 TOLD YA!!!

Sorry Dude... No Feed For YOU!! Move Along Little Doggie!

We did have fun... Infact I don't think I have laughed that much in a good long while.