Months ago Kenny and I made plans with Jereme and Melodi to use our paintball Groupon, unfortunately none of us realized we needed to make reservations. When we got there we were told they didn't have enough equipment for us and we would have to come back! What a bummer! (did I mention it was well over an hour drive to get there??)
We decided to head off to the Caves (which was our planned afternoon activity). On the way we spotted the Ostrich Farm. Every time we pass that place I want to stop and check it out... what a perfect opportunity! Kenny begrudgingly looped back around to the Picacho exit to accommodate Melodi and I!
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| Monster Truck |
For $15 we got everything the farm had to offer including feed for all the animals. The deer were so sweet but didn't like to be pet.
Next were the goats... in this "Hole in the wall gang" I felt sorry for them and it kind of freaked me out. It is creative though...
Two headed goat...
We fed them... they were pretty mean... One got my hand pretty good.
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| Jereme feeding the mean Ostriches |
Next were the Donkeys which I loved! They were hilarious and kept nudging me to feed them.
Before we went on the Monster Truck tour we visited the Lorikeets... Now if you are saying, "What the heck is a Lorikeet?" dont't feel bad because I didn't know either until we went in there! It was a really cool experience having all those birds sit on you! They were super friendly... until you ran out of food then they were gone.
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| Melodi |
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| Kenny |
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| Jereme |
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| Add caption |
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| me |
The monster truck ride was really fun too. Our tour guide was fabulous and taught us everything we ever wanted to know about Ostriches and even a little something about the desert.
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Here you can actually see how big these eggs are!
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| the 3 amigos |
The last stop on the trail was Ostrich fishing ! It was agreeably one of the funnest things of the day!
We each for a fishing pole, with rope and an eye bolt and a couple grapefruit halves.
Funny
It was kinda gross, but cool to see the grapefruit 1/2s worth their way down their necks....
In the end we were ALL glad we stopped and had a blast (it was the highlight of my weekend)! I really want to take the boys back there! Kids under 6 are FREE (including feed for the animals) and adults are just $5 (if you don't do the Monster truck ride). We ended up buying an ostrich egg for just $18 (this is sarcasm here) for all of us to have for breakfast the next day. We ventured on to Tucson trying to decide what all to do and what to eat! After picking 2 closed restaurants we finally choose one that was still open called Silver Mine Subs. After a delicious lunch we finally headed to Colossal Caves! One thing I especially liked about this Cave was we could take pictures! I took tons, but most of them just look like rocks.... Here is some good ones.
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| Kenny, Melodi and Jereme |
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| 'frozen' waterfall |
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| Me and Kenny |
Katchner Caverns is by far the most beautiful of them all. It is a living cave and in pristine condition. The bad part is it is expensive and they have lot of rules which hinder your enjoyment of the cave (including no pictures). It is muggy and can be claustrophobic feeling in there.
Colossal Caves have been used and abused. There is still a lot of neat things to see in the cave, but lots of the stalactite have been broken off and the cave is used and it looks it. The path systems were put in as a relief project during (after?) the great depression and the employees were paid a dollar a day (75 cents of which had to be sent home for family to spend in efforts of boosting the economy)! This cave is about 1/2 the price of Katchner Caverns and doesn't have many rules since it is a dead cave (no water).
Pepper-sauce Caves is the most used and abused, vandalized and fun cave of them all! It is not regulated and you kind of need to just know where it is to find it. Most of the things that make caves beautiful are missing from this cave, but it is still amazing and unlike any other experience to climb, crawl and squeeze through it! You can wonder and explore at your own leisure and it is absolutely FREE!
Anyway, (wow that was a tangent!) After the caves we did the park scavenger hunt in search of a prize.... which ended up being a polished rock we gave the boys.
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| The sunset was really awesome going home - Picacho Peak |
By the time we got home the boys were in bed, but not asleep... so I went in to show them our 'dinosaur egg". Jacob's eyes lit up in amazement and he said "oooooo"! Little Brian was a little afraid the egg would hatch before morning. LOL I SO wish I had a picture of their faces when I showed them the egg!
We had such a fun sleepover playing wii and talking and laughing.... It made me feel young! I love having a house full of people !
Sunday morning we were all hanging out watching cartoons and I let the boys play with the egg. I SO wish I took a picture of them with it, but I didn't know what was going to happen.... Jacob was playing with the egg and dropped it AND IT BROKE! I was shocked because we were told over and over how strong the shells were and that the 300 lb ostriches sit on them, etc etc... Regardless it broke! The dogs got a little taste of the whites off the carpet, but Jereme saved it and we were still able to make breakfast from it -- for all of us (except both Brians who were too afraid to try it!). Kenny made omelets and Jereme made scrambled eggs. I thought the egg tasted pretty much like chicken eggs, but a little bit sweeter.
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| its hard to see the size in this picture, but this is a large mixing bowl |
One Ostrich egg is equivalent to two dozen chicken eggs!
Very cool. I've been to colossal cave, but I still haven't been to the ostrich farm. I really need to go there- I think my whole family would like it. Great photos.
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