Lions and Tigers and...
Currently Reading: Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
Currently Watching: Fringe: Season 3
Nope, no Bears. Still, oh my!
It's been awhile since my last entry simply because I've been straight up too busy to post for a change! My online Illustrator Class started and it's been taking up the majority of my free computer time. But, I feel it's going very well and has been well worth the 4-5 hours each week I have been investing in it. I will be posting some of my efforts in a future entry. But first, lions and tigers!
Amy and I finished up our Southeast triumvirate of Amusement Parks on October 27th with a day trip to Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta, Georgia. This is an independently owned park and wildlife conservation center - not part of any national chain - so we have no idea what to expect. The drive over was tediously long and boring (how can there be so many miles of nothingness in such a densely populated area of the country is beyond me) and the entrance to the park itself gave us pause. It is literally in the middle of no where. There isn't so much as a gas station within five miles of the place. Just acres and acres of open farmland. Once we learned the true nature of the place we were visiting, this made sense, but initially we were thinking that this might be a very short trip if this proved to be some backwater kiddie land.
Well, it was anything but! Frankly, we thoroughly enjoyed it - much more so than Carowinds and certainly more than the dreaded King's Island. I would say it's about on par with Dollywood in terms of unique rides and charm. They even had a ride I haven't seen in years - not since I was a child - a Tilt-a-World. A real TAW, not the sedated versions you come across so rarely these days. Most of them are gone because, frankly, they make people throw up. Indeed, the last thing the jolly black lady running this one said was, "Now don't ya'll puke on my ride!" Hee! This beautiful relic of a less PC time was as wild of a ride as I remember when I used to ride it with my dad at the Ohio Fair and he knew just how to pick the best spinning car and how to get it going so fast that all I could do was just hold on and belly laugh. And this was just the same - except Amy was no so fond of my mad ride skillz as I was of Dad's! Nevertheless, I had a fabulous ride. I was 8 years old again and it was fantastic.
So, the rides were great, but what really made this place marvelous was its animals. Happy, active animals instead of the vaguely stupefied creatures you so often find in zoos. I was so close to an adult male giraffe that for the first time in my life I was truly humbled by how they tower over a human. And the stately, painterly rhino Graham who does not play well with others, but looked so majestically happy in his large, private paddock. Shirley, the third oldest Indian Elephant in the world at 68. She started her career in the 40s as a circus elephant, than she became a film star in the 90s (Remember the live action Jungle Book with Same Neill? That was her!) and now she's enjoying a peaceful retirement at Wild Adventures in Georgia of all places. She also paints. And this is what I loved. Each and every one of these animals was spoken of as if it was an individual to be respected. It was never, "Oh, the elephant." There was always a name and personality described. The affection for the animals was plain and it showed in their happy demeanors. There was a Safari Train, but instead of the usual bearded old white man, this was hosted by a cheerful young black man who made it basically like going on safari with Donkey from Shrek. In other words: Awesome. But nothing was more magnificent or awe-inspiring than the Tigers.
I've seen tigers in real life before. Of course I have. Who hasn't been to a zoo and seen them passed out in the back of a distant enclosure or pacing nearly out of view? This was so much more. They had a showed called Tigers of India, but this wasn't Tigers jumped through hoops... this was something else entirely. This was a show purely about showing off the beauty, grace and magnificence of these largest cats to emphasize why they must be preserved for future generations. Honestly, it just about moved me to tears. They have a man there who I can only refer to as a Tiger Whisperer who has a bond like nothing I've ever seen with these cats. And I learned so much that, to coin a phrase, I never knew I never knew. For example, there aren't two types of Bengal Tigers. There are four! Orange, White, Golden Tabby and Snow White. There are only about 70 known Goldens in the world, and just 40 Snow Whites. They had at least one of each at Wild Adventures and brought them all out together. They took my breath away. Look at how beautiful:
The star of their show, and clear beloved favorite is a big snow white boy named Lazarus. He spends the entire show lazing on top of a huge rubber ball and just looking pleased as punch with his life. Cute as he can be... blissfully unaware of how precious his very existence is.
This show was so incredible that it alone was worth the price of admission to this charming little park. I've never seen anything like it before in my life and it really did give me a new love and appreciation of Tigers. They did gloss over the fact that wild tigers, especially Sunderban Tigers, will eat you, but nevertheless, losing them would make our world so much less.
After the show, we went out to where they have the enclosure where they keep the tigers that are not accustomed to humans and saw something I doubt I'll ever see again in my life. There was a family by the fence talking to the tigers and of course they were paying no mind. People talk/yell at them all day long, I'm sure. But, then the father started to make that kissy-face noise we've all made at our house cats when we watch them to come. And that pacing tiger froze. Very slowly, he turned to face the fence and crouched down real low. I whisper to Amy, "Oh shit, that looks like our cats just before they..." and that Tiger charged across that compound with a roar and pounced on his inner fence right where the family was standing. If the double fences weren't there, they would be dead. The end. It was thrilling and completely terrifying all at once. The kids in the family screamed - for real screamed - and ran. Frankly, my own heart sped up and I jumped back instinctively, even though I knew there was a very tall double fence between me and him. It was a stark reminder that for all we live in a highly modern world, our primitive reaction to a predator coming at us remains unchanged after all these millenia. I was fascinated. I'm sure people try all day long to get that tiger to acknowledge them. What was it about that innocent sounding noise that sent him into sudden prey drive? Did it sound like a prey animal? I didn't know, but I couldn't stop thinking about it.
In fact, later that night, I had to find out if it was just that tiger being annoyed and bitchy, or if it was more nature based. I walked over to the Lion enclosure. We had been by them several times that day and they were passed. out. - Lions being nocturnal and all. Well, now it was night and they were up and about, so I went over to the fence and made the same kissy-face noise to the lioness. The reaction was instant - she whipped her head around and snarled at me. Nala wants me dead. How completely fascinating is this? The very noise that calls my house cats to me with head butts and purrs makes a big cat want to kill me. It may not be sweet, but it's something I'll never forget!
So, it really was a wonderful time and well worth visiting for the unique animal experiences alone. I'm so glad we went! We weren't sure since it wasn't part of a chain and you never know what you're going to get with an independent operation, but it's so well done.
All of this gave me a whole new appreciation of the book Life of Pi when I finally got around to reading it last week. As with all animal stories, I must know if the animal dies before I go to see a movie version. Because I can't handle animal deaths. I promptly turn into a soppy, sobbing mess and struggle mightily to get my shit back together, yet the film of Pi looks so beautiful that I had to see if it was something I could watch in public. So, I read it and until I got to the mindfuck of a last page, I enjoyed it very much... it was a little gory for my tastes, but still a great adventure. And after witnessing the tigers at Wild Adventures, I had more than a healthy amount of respect for Richard Parker. Course, then I got to the end and I was like, wait, wha...? What the hell did I just read?! *Fred Savage face* Is this an allegory book?!?! Oh Christ on a cracker, now I don't know even know what's real any more! I'm have such a reading comprehension crisis! If I wanted to answer complicated questions of faith and what is real, I would have taken theology!" But, of course, that's exactly what the author wanted and by not giving any answers, he made what was a merely a good book into a great one. Frankly, I still don't know what to think (which makes me... agnostic according to the book. Never-mind that I'm actually deeply spiritual, so I think there's a flaw there, but that's what makes this such a perfect Book Club selection and Summer Reading title), but there's no way I'm not going to see the movie!
See what I mean:
"I can well imagine an atheist's last words: 'White, white! L-L-Love! My God!'-and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless, factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, 'Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain,' and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story."
- Life of Pi
Currently Watching: Fringe: Season 3
Nope, no Bears. Still, oh my!
It's been awhile since my last entry simply because I've been straight up too busy to post for a change! My online Illustrator Class started and it's been taking up the majority of my free computer time. But, I feel it's going very well and has been well worth the 4-5 hours each week I have been investing in it. I will be posting some of my efforts in a future entry. But first, lions and tigers!
Amy and I finished up our Southeast triumvirate of Amusement Parks on October 27th with a day trip to Wild Adventures Theme Park in Valdosta, Georgia. This is an independently owned park and wildlife conservation center - not part of any national chain - so we have no idea what to expect. The drive over was tediously long and boring (how can there be so many miles of nothingness in such a densely populated area of the country is beyond me) and the entrance to the park itself gave us pause. It is literally in the middle of no where. There isn't so much as a gas station within five miles of the place. Just acres and acres of open farmland. Once we learned the true nature of the place we were visiting, this made sense, but initially we were thinking that this might be a very short trip if this proved to be some backwater kiddie land.
Well, it was anything but! Frankly, we thoroughly enjoyed it - much more so than Carowinds and certainly more than the dreaded King's Island. I would say it's about on par with Dollywood in terms of unique rides and charm. They even had a ride I haven't seen in years - not since I was a child - a Tilt-a-World. A real TAW, not the sedated versions you come across so rarely these days. Most of them are gone because, frankly, they make people throw up. Indeed, the last thing the jolly black lady running this one said was, "Now don't ya'll puke on my ride!" Hee! This beautiful relic of a less PC time was as wild of a ride as I remember when I used to ride it with my dad at the Ohio Fair and he knew just how to pick the best spinning car and how to get it going so fast that all I could do was just hold on and belly laugh. And this was just the same - except Amy was no so fond of my mad ride skillz as I was of Dad's! Nevertheless, I had a fabulous ride. I was 8 years old again and it was fantastic.
So, the rides were great, but what really made this place marvelous was its animals. Happy, active animals instead of the vaguely stupefied creatures you so often find in zoos. I was so close to an adult male giraffe that for the first time in my life I was truly humbled by how they tower over a human. And the stately, painterly rhino Graham who does not play well with others, but looked so majestically happy in his large, private paddock. Shirley, the third oldest Indian Elephant in the world at 68. She started her career in the 40s as a circus elephant, than she became a film star in the 90s (Remember the live action Jungle Book with Same Neill? That was her!) and now she's enjoying a peaceful retirement at Wild Adventures in Georgia of all places. She also paints. And this is what I loved. Each and every one of these animals was spoken of as if it was an individual to be respected. It was never, "Oh, the elephant." There was always a name and personality described. The affection for the animals was plain and it showed in their happy demeanors. There was a Safari Train, but instead of the usual bearded old white man, this was hosted by a cheerful young black man who made it basically like going on safari with Donkey from Shrek. In other words: Awesome. But nothing was more magnificent or awe-inspiring than the Tigers.
I've seen tigers in real life before. Of course I have. Who hasn't been to a zoo and seen them passed out in the back of a distant enclosure or pacing nearly out of view? This was so much more. They had a showed called Tigers of India, but this wasn't Tigers jumped through hoops... this was something else entirely. This was a show purely about showing off the beauty, grace and magnificence of these largest cats to emphasize why they must be preserved for future generations. Honestly, it just about moved me to tears. They have a man there who I can only refer to as a Tiger Whisperer who has a bond like nothing I've ever seen with these cats. And I learned so much that, to coin a phrase, I never knew I never knew. For example, there aren't two types of Bengal Tigers. There are four! Orange, White, Golden Tabby and Snow White. There are only about 70 known Goldens in the world, and just 40 Snow Whites. They had at least one of each at Wild Adventures and brought them all out together. They took my breath away. Look at how beautiful:
The star of their show, and clear beloved favorite is a big snow white boy named Lazarus. He spends the entire show lazing on top of a huge rubber ball and just looking pleased as punch with his life. Cute as he can be... blissfully unaware of how precious his very existence is.
This show was so incredible that it alone was worth the price of admission to this charming little park. I've never seen anything like it before in my life and it really did give me a new love and appreciation of Tigers. They did gloss over the fact that wild tigers, especially Sunderban Tigers, will eat you, but nevertheless, losing them would make our world so much less.
After the show, we went out to where they have the enclosure where they keep the tigers that are not accustomed to humans and saw something I doubt I'll ever see again in my life. There was a family by the fence talking to the tigers and of course they were paying no mind. People talk/yell at them all day long, I'm sure. But, then the father started to make that kissy-face noise we've all made at our house cats when we watch them to come. And that pacing tiger froze. Very slowly, he turned to face the fence and crouched down real low. I whisper to Amy, "Oh shit, that looks like our cats just before they..." and that Tiger charged across that compound with a roar and pounced on his inner fence right where the family was standing. If the double fences weren't there, they would be dead. The end. It was thrilling and completely terrifying all at once. The kids in the family screamed - for real screamed - and ran. Frankly, my own heart sped up and I jumped back instinctively, even though I knew there was a very tall double fence between me and him. It was a stark reminder that for all we live in a highly modern world, our primitive reaction to a predator coming at us remains unchanged after all these millenia. I was fascinated. I'm sure people try all day long to get that tiger to acknowledge them. What was it about that innocent sounding noise that sent him into sudden prey drive? Did it sound like a prey animal? I didn't know, but I couldn't stop thinking about it.
In fact, later that night, I had to find out if it was just that tiger being annoyed and bitchy, or if it was more nature based. I walked over to the Lion enclosure. We had been by them several times that day and they were passed. out. - Lions being nocturnal and all. Well, now it was night and they were up and about, so I went over to the fence and made the same kissy-face noise to the lioness. The reaction was instant - she whipped her head around and snarled at me. Nala wants me dead. How completely fascinating is this? The very noise that calls my house cats to me with head butts and purrs makes a big cat want to kill me. It may not be sweet, but it's something I'll never forget!
So, it really was a wonderful time and well worth visiting for the unique animal experiences alone. I'm so glad we went! We weren't sure since it wasn't part of a chain and you never know what you're going to get with an independent operation, but it's so well done.
All of this gave me a whole new appreciation of the book Life of Pi when I finally got around to reading it last week. As with all animal stories, I must know if the animal dies before I go to see a movie version. Because I can't handle animal deaths. I promptly turn into a soppy, sobbing mess and struggle mightily to get my shit back together, yet the film of Pi looks so beautiful that I had to see if it was something I could watch in public. So, I read it and until I got to the mindfuck of a last page, I enjoyed it very much... it was a little gory for my tastes, but still a great adventure. And after witnessing the tigers at Wild Adventures, I had more than a healthy amount of respect for Richard Parker. Course, then I got to the end and I was like, wait, wha...? What the hell did I just read?! *Fred Savage face* Is this an allegory book?!?! Oh Christ on a cracker, now I don't know even know what's real any more! I'm have such a reading comprehension crisis! If I wanted to answer complicated questions of faith and what is real, I would have taken theology!" But, of course, that's exactly what the author wanted and by not giving any answers, he made what was a merely a good book into a great one. Frankly, I still don't know what to think (which makes me... agnostic according to the book. Never-mind that I'm actually deeply spiritual, so I think there's a flaw there, but that's what makes this such a perfect Book Club selection and Summer Reading title), but there's no way I'm not going to see the movie!
See what I mean:
"I can well imagine an atheist's last words: 'White, white! L-L-Love! My God!'-and the deathbed leap of faith. Whereas the agnostic, if he stays true to his reasonable self, if he stays beholden to dry, yeastless, factuality, might try to explain the warm light bathing him by saying, 'Possibly a f-f-failing oxygenation of the b-b-brain,' and, to the very end, lack imagination and miss the better story."
- Life of Pi