Up close and personal

       Today the Reed family drove about an hour to visit a drive through zoo.  It's just NW of Copperas Cove.  We left the house and it was a nice 63 degrees outside with sun peaking through the clouds every now and then.  We stopped to eat lunch in Killeen at Fuddruckers, which was right next door to Chuck E Cheese. Ansley thought we drove all that way to eat at Chuck E Cheese and was a little sad that we weren't.  However, to be honest, I was expecting a huge fuss about not eating there and she pretty much got over it right away.  I think it helped that up on the roof there was a fake owl so scare other birds away, but she thought it was real.  We had to choose a table that allowed her to look out the window and watch the owl.  Anyway, by the time we got to the zoo thing it was cool, windy, and sprinkling.  We didn't let that spoil our fun though.

       When we first got there we walked around to see the animals that were out in front of the drive through path.  We saw a couple monkeys, cougars, goats, kangaroos, and a black bear.  Then we got in the car with our paper bag of animal food and headed down the drive through.  Of course I brought my camera, and of course the battery was dead.  Towards the end of the trail I took some pics with Jay's cell phone that came out ok.  Well see how well they post here.  There were lots of emus and all kinds of goats and deer.  Ansley's favorites were the ponies.  Anyone who knows my child would have guessed that.  The zebra were really pretty and it was cool to see them up close and personal.  At the end of the trail were the really big animals.

A camel (left) decided to stick it's huge head (and half its neck) through my window and try to steal the whole bag of food.  Apparently he thought the couple of pieces in my hand that was stuck out the window was insufficient.  Jay really liked the yak looking things (above right and very top).  But the show stopper were these cow kind of animals that had really HUGE horns.  I mean they were so big the poor animal couldn't even hold it's head up.  In the pic we took it looks like he is charging our car. (bottom right)  It wasn't quite that dramatic but its horn did run into my window while the camels were trying to shoo the cows away.

       I have been told that I went to a similar place called Arbuckle Wilderness (also lovingly known as Buckle Willis's at the Selman house) when I was a kid, but I do not remember that experience.  This made today all the more exciting for me.  I thought the animals would be scared to come to the car unless you showed them the food.  I guess of few of them were but for the most part these animals were relentless and persistent in their quest for food.  It was a good day for my animal loving daughter.  I hope that she remembers more from her trip than I do from the trip I had back in the day.   If you want to see this place check out www.topseyexoticranch.com