Be afraid of the Tiger, be very afraid...
Greg and I decided a vacation was in our future so we booked a place in Luray, VA. We decided on Luray mostly because of the Zoo down there. We drove down with the pups on Sunday and found our room that was literally a few feet from the pool. I mean, we could walk right out the door and open a gate and jump in. How cool is that! So....we did. We dropped the dogs off, changed and dove in. The weather was beautiful and Emmi barked her head off the entire time. We didn't know what to do with her but weren't about to have her ruin our vacation so we had to sort of ignore her. She gets that way when we leave her and then she settles down. Surprisingly...Maverick was a saint...go figure!
We showered and drove to a nearby mom and pop type restaurant just minutes from Skyline drive (which we didn't get a chance to go to) and had a good meal then drove back to the place. Monday we went to the Caverns (I think) and it was awesome! It was a one hour tour of these:
The caverns once formed from a river that went through it. The stalag tights and stalag mights are still forming from water dripping down. These pictures show a pool of water that's still in there. Most of the caverns aren't forming any longer. You can even have wedding ceremony down there. They have a organ that is connected to some of the stalag tights and it plays beautifully.
So anyway, we went to the Lury Zoo next (without the pups). We walked in and went through a little maze of reptiles. Snakes, a really huge 300-400lb turtle and other things. When you go through that part, you walk out into the open with all of these beautifl and exotic rescue animals. It's a small rescue zoo not anything like the regular zoo you would see here in Washington D.C. There were vultures, owls, a Lynx, a Bobcat, a huge porcupine, Lemurs, monkeys, a tiger, a camel, more birds I had never seen before and a little petting zoo area with goats (that's where the camel was but you couldn't pet it.
The tiger loved Greg :). We walked over to her and stood at a fence to watch her. She was in a cage and looked right at Greg and started growling. She was pacing back and forth and we stood there still watching her. She came back over a few times and growled even more and louder. She even jumped up on the cage like she wanted him for lunch. The owner told him to step back so we just walked away. He later found us and told us that Greg intimidated her because he was a big guy standing close. When she growled the first time he should have stepped back to show her SHE was boss and all would have been fine. Since he stood his ground, he now looked like a piece of juicy steak to her (or more just like someone she wanted to fight). We sort of ran by her cage each time instead of walking naturally. But all was well. This was the best thing we did. I would love to go again!
The next day we lathered up in sunblock in places that were exposed, beyond our bathing suits and t-shirts, and went to the Shenandoah River for some R&R, tubing style. The river was a bit slower than I would have liked it but it was a nice 3hr drift. We saw turtles and birds and even cows all along the river...many of them! I didn't realize until later but I burnt my legs pretty bad and Greg lost his shirt in the river and ended up burning his stomach. Ouch!
We were ready to come home when we did. It was a really nice break from reality for a while though.
We drove home on the 4th, took a nap and went out to dinner. We saw a few fireworks over some trees and shot off a few spinner ones in a parking lot but the night was old so we went home.
We spent the rest of the time tiling our bathroom. It looks great! We would get up, tile, take a mid day nap, tile a bit more and break. So it took us like 4 days to do a 2 day job. But whatever, we were on vacation.
Mom brought Grandma over on Sunday where she played with Greg the whole time. She asked him his name about 50 times (not joking) and when he would repeat it she would say...Emanuel? Victor? No speaka de English? She had me laughing so hard. Poor mom though, she was a bit much for her but she was such a trip since we didn't normally get to see her.
Now it's back to work and back to reality where I'm still a bit slow getting into things. I feel I need a nap....
We showered and drove to a nearby mom and pop type restaurant just minutes from Skyline drive (which we didn't get a chance to go to) and had a good meal then drove back to the place. Monday we went to the Caverns (I think) and it was awesome! It was a one hour tour of these:
The caverns once formed from a river that went through it. The stalag tights and stalag mights are still forming from water dripping down. These pictures show a pool of water that's still in there. Most of the caverns aren't forming any longer. You can even have wedding ceremony down there. They have a organ that is connected to some of the stalag tights and it plays beautifully.
So anyway, we went to the Lury Zoo next (without the pups). We walked in and went through a little maze of reptiles. Snakes, a really huge 300-400lb turtle and other things. When you go through that part, you walk out into the open with all of these beautifl and exotic rescue animals. It's a small rescue zoo not anything like the regular zoo you would see here in Washington D.C. There were vultures, owls, a Lynx, a Bobcat, a huge porcupine, Lemurs, monkeys, a tiger, a camel, more birds I had never seen before and a little petting zoo area with goats (that's where the camel was but you couldn't pet it.
The tiger loved Greg :). We walked over to her and stood at a fence to watch her. She was in a cage and looked right at Greg and started growling. She was pacing back and forth and we stood there still watching her. She came back over a few times and growled even more and louder. She even jumped up on the cage like she wanted him for lunch. The owner told him to step back so we just walked away. He later found us and told us that Greg intimidated her because he was a big guy standing close. When she growled the first time he should have stepped back to show her SHE was boss and all would have been fine. Since he stood his ground, he now looked like a piece of juicy steak to her (or more just like someone she wanted to fight). We sort of ran by her cage each time instead of walking naturally. But all was well. This was the best thing we did. I would love to go again!
The next day we lathered up in sunblock in places that were exposed, beyond our bathing suits and t-shirts, and went to the Shenandoah River for some R&R, tubing style. The river was a bit slower than I would have liked it but it was a nice 3hr drift. We saw turtles and birds and even cows all along the river...many of them! I didn't realize until later but I burnt my legs pretty bad and Greg lost his shirt in the river and ended up burning his stomach. Ouch!
We were ready to come home when we did. It was a really nice break from reality for a while though.
We drove home on the 4th, took a nap and went out to dinner. We saw a few fireworks over some trees and shot off a few spinner ones in a parking lot but the night was old so we went home.
We spent the rest of the time tiling our bathroom. It looks great! We would get up, tile, take a mid day nap, tile a bit more and break. So it took us like 4 days to do a 2 day job. But whatever, we were on vacation.
Mom brought Grandma over on Sunday where she played with Greg the whole time. She asked him his name about 50 times (not joking) and when he would repeat it she would say...Emanuel? Victor? No speaka de English? She had me laughing so hard. Poor mom though, she was a bit much for her but she was such a trip since we didn't normally get to see her.
Now it's back to work and back to reality where I'm still a bit slow getting into things. I feel I need a nap....
posted by Karri-Berry at
6:41 AM
2 Comments:
Greg knows how to drive the ladies crazy!
Anyway, sounds like a fun time -- except for the sunburn. I've finally started using really high SPF to avoid sun burn because it SUCKS!
I'm fascinated with the idea of the cavern organ -- that is so cool! Does it use to the stalactites to make sound? IF someone had a wedding down there that would be so creepy...but fun. :)
By
Dan, at 12:57 PM
I know right!
Yeah the organ makes sound right off of them. I'm surprised it hasn't all caved in from it personally but they don't play it all the time. Its a very pretty sound too. The area the organ is in has a large space but it is sort of dark down there so it does seem like it would be creepy. They have one formation they call "Pluto's Ghost." Imaging getting married with organ music near a Pluto's Ghost...pretty cool. :) Why didn't I think of it ;)
By
Karri-Berry, at 1:36 PM
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