OK, so Yellowstone Bear World is one of those places you'd call a "tourist trap" ... named to sound as if it's affiliated with Yellowstone National Park. In fact, it's about 10 miles south of Rexburg, about 55 miles away from us and a little more from Yellowstone National Park! I forced the issue and made it our family activity today ... Corbin was a complete trooper, though he could not believe I was making this our outing today. It was very Griswald-eske!! Wildlife in a park ... who wants to see that??? Kiddie amusement rides and candy and a petting zoo with germs galore ... really????
But just look at the smiles on our kids' faces!!! Oh my gosh - I was like a child myself as we drove through the park and saw SOOOO many bears. Corb was pretty impressed, too! That was after seeing elk, including 2 white elk, bison, deer, and mountain goats - oh and with the bears were wolves, one was a white wolf. The park has a drive-through section, where we saw all the wildlife. Then we parked and went into the gift shop, where they offered free fudge tastings :-) . We then went out into the area where there are bear cubs, a petting zoo, and kiddie rides.
Well ... the bear cubs were precious (sadly, no pics of them)!!! We were all enthralled watching the 6 cubs frolicking with each other and the handlers. They will be released into the park again once they are big enough and less susceptible to attack from the male bears and the wolves. Then we went through the petting zoo, which was cool but weird ... country music playing through speakers that looked like rocks ... deer and goats being handfed by kids ... and a moose in the park, but close to the petting zoo fence! Finally, we went to the rides ... they were really at Maggie's level ... but Connor and Brady embraced the opportunity to enjoy the moment. Brady was so wonderful as the big brother and took Maggie on all the rides the first time, helping her climb into seats, buckle seatbelts, and generally get used to the rides. Before long, she was skipping from one ride to the next and riding alone. Brady even got me to go on 3 rides with him :-) ... we had lots of laughs today ... and lots of spontaneous hugs ... ah, such joy!
Before we left the park, we went back through the gift shop and each kid got to choose a piece of their favorite fudge -- the pieces were 1/4 pound each, so they were HUGE! They ate some on the way home, and some for dessert tonight.
The day started with a trip to the dump and the library ... the day ended with us watching "G-Force" which we checked out at the library. This was definitely a family day where everyone was happy and laughing ... wow ... those are rare. Corbin and I exchanged many smiles and cherished the day together, through the kids' eyes!
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