Animal Farm

Higher prices — I so remember my grandparents whining (at least, it sounded like whining to my young ears).

"Why I could buy the very finest pair of shoes for $3.50," my grandmother might say or perhaps, "I remember when a loaf of bread cost 5¢!"  (Even I can remember when bread at the commissary cost 33¢ a loaf back in the day. I'd love to find a loaf for 33¢ today, but I digress.)

The whining would sound so ridiculous to me that I promised myself that I'd never do it. Well, let's just say that I have arrived at that magical age of grandparenthood where I find that whining about prices just comes with the territory.

Used to be, back in the day, that one went to the "Animal Farm" and paid not one cent. (When I was a child.) Then there came the day when a donation box was placed out and one could give or not for the privilege of walking around sniffing what was basically a giant litter box. (When my children were little.) Sorrowfully, there came the day when the fee was $2, which was cheap enough and a welcome class trip in May, litter box or no. (When I was a teacher.)

Imagine my horror to have to pay $7 for a ticket Monday. Seven dollars! John got in for $5 and so did Sam. Seventeen dollars to walk around in the heat for a couple of hours sniffing the giant litter box. Whine...whine...whine... Here are the photos. =D

~Wild Animals Do Not Make Good Pets~

~Animal of the Month—Eastern Coyote~

~Doe~

~Stuffed Wild Turkey—mildly confusing~

 ~Bear of a Different Sort~

 ~*Lynx* Resting...yes, it's alive! And let's just say that it is larger than a Maine Coon Cat~

~Geese at the Pond~

 ~Coyote~Look Closely~

~Mountain Lion~

 ~Carved Tortoise~

 ~Peacock~

~Fawn Triplets~

~Bears~

~And Jonah Thought He Had Problems~

Sam has been here a few times before. Somewhere I have his baby self peeking through that very bear. His favorite thing?

~The Puzzle~

Tomorrow, I'm sharing some of the garden areas in the park. Hmmmm...maybe $7 wasn't such a bad price after all.


P.S. About yesterday's post. Since guests are no longer allowed to park within the park (now that's confusing), we decided to have our picnic lunch right in front of the car out in the parking lot. We never dreamed that we wouldn't be seated at a picnic table. It did have its advantages—no litter box smells for one and no hauling of stuff. With two children's car seats, a picnic basket, a cooler, and a bicycle, we didn't have room for our two wonderful chairs, though I'm putting them back in the trunk before I forget.

Can you believe that it's August so soon?!