"When Animals are too Tame"
Your hosts for this episode will be Kyle and Jen. You the live journal reader my vicariously accompany them on their recent trip to the Olympic Game Reserve. This utopia of wild animals is located in Sequim, WA on the penninsula. Featuring trainers of wild animals for TV and movies it lures the adventurer with tales of up close encounters with exotic creatures from around the globe. Let's begin our tour shall we?
First of all when the ticket guy asks you if you want bread, he isn't really asking. He is telling you that you need bread. In fact to be safe buy 4 loafs of bread!! You start by driving by the training pen where some bears are gambling about. This seems promising you say to each other. Next comes a little farm scene where chickens and bunnies look pastoral- for about 2 min. Then they realize the food mobile is here and jump up to the door of the car. This is totally adorable with fat little bunnies and you fling bread generously- not realizing you should be hoarding it. Next comes the prairie dog village and the peacocks. Equally adorable and non- threatening. (The female of the group cooing enthusiastically regarding the cuteness factor.)
Then it starts.. You see ahead of you zebras and there beyond the grate, the llamas. They are in fact blocking the road in their enthusiasm to be fed. You finally decide to push forward in the hopes they will get out of the way. This is where you learn why you have bread. You must strategically use your bread to bribe the llamas away from the car, as they lope alongside appearing to hump the car. Yikes! Two yaks run up to the car, they are playing but its a bit threatening with animals this large. Now you have a large, woolly, horned mammal licking your windows. An unforeseen visual hazard. You drive on. Finally you reach the end of the llamas territory and you breathe easier. No more humping. Here come the bears! They are all over, 10-15 of them and huge! They have got this tourist thing down and wave, roll, stand, and grin for bread. Others are playing by themselves with sticks and it is just awesome to be this close. A rinocerous sits in solitary splendor as you reach the middle point. Here there are three rows of penned animals including wolves, a lion, tiger, lynx, and leopard. They give walking tours of these trained animals in the summer but you can see them relaxing as you drive by. Now you are entering the zone where you are advised not to stop the car- it pisses the buffalo off. Elk, deer, and buffalo abound in their own herds and look at you with interest. It's awe inspiring to see these large, beautiful wild animals within yards of you. You finish your drive breathless but very grateful you did end up getting the bread. Now all that remains is cleaning off the yak spit.
Tune in again as your hosts take you on a tour of Port Townsend, Lake Clearview and extoll on the marvels of jacuzi tubs.
First of all when the ticket guy asks you if you want bread, he isn't really asking. He is telling you that you need bread. In fact to be safe buy 4 loafs of bread!! You start by driving by the training pen where some bears are gambling about. This seems promising you say to each other. Next comes a little farm scene where chickens and bunnies look pastoral- for about 2 min. Then they realize the food mobile is here and jump up to the door of the car. This is totally adorable with fat little bunnies and you fling bread generously- not realizing you should be hoarding it. Next comes the prairie dog village and the peacocks. Equally adorable and non- threatening. (The female of the group cooing enthusiastically regarding the cuteness factor.)
Then it starts.. You see ahead of you zebras and there beyond the grate, the llamas. They are in fact blocking the road in their enthusiasm to be fed. You finally decide to push forward in the hopes they will get out of the way. This is where you learn why you have bread. You must strategically use your bread to bribe the llamas away from the car, as they lope alongside appearing to hump the car. Yikes! Two yaks run up to the car, they are playing but its a bit threatening with animals this large. Now you have a large, woolly, horned mammal licking your windows. An unforeseen visual hazard. You drive on. Finally you reach the end of the llamas territory and you breathe easier. No more humping. Here come the bears! They are all over, 10-15 of them and huge! They have got this tourist thing down and wave, roll, stand, and grin for bread. Others are playing by themselves with sticks and it is just awesome to be this close. A rinocerous sits in solitary splendor as you reach the middle point. Here there are three rows of penned animals including wolves, a lion, tiger, lynx, and leopard. They give walking tours of these trained animals in the summer but you can see them relaxing as you drive by. Now you are entering the zone where you are advised not to stop the car- it pisses the buffalo off. Elk, deer, and buffalo abound in their own herds and look at you with interest. It's awe inspiring to see these large, beautiful wild animals within yards of you. You finish your drive breathless but very grateful you did end up getting the bread. Now all that remains is cleaning off the yak spit.
Tune in again as your hosts take you on a tour of Port Townsend, Lake Clearview and extoll on the marvels of jacuzi tubs.