A Day in Wahpeton ND

We girls decided to head out on a little road trip to Wahpeton ND - about an hour south of Fargo.  I have to say, I am so blessed that my girls travel so well!

Our main stop was at the Chahinkapa zoo!  (Good luck trying to pronounce that one)
****Shout out to Zoo Atlanta and AZA (Association of Zoos and Aquariums) - with our reciprocal membership we got in for half price!

We LOVE going to zoo's in different places - they are all so unique!  The Chahinkapa Zoo had some of our favorites (terrapins, tigers, kangaroos, river otters, etc...) but also had some we certainly don't have at home - like camels, grizzly bears, and bison. And a few others that you'll see in photos (I'll label a few in case you don't know what they are - I didn't).....

 Loved the tamarans!
In that same area, they had a great "inquiring minds" education stop.  The girls jumped right in to learn a little more about these guys.

 a fossa

 

My girls were in love with the peacocks - they were everywhere!!!!  And so beautiful!

a beautiful Bengal Tiger 

They even had a fun "excavation site" where kids could dig up bones.  Of course, we had to give it a try!

CAMELS.......  the girls were so amazed to see the camels.

Now - what makes this zoo sooooooo cool is that they have 4 animal trainers.  These keepers are trained in how to train the animals - for check ups and such.  But during the zoo hours, they are making their rounds doing training exercises - right next to you!!!!!!   So it's like a behind the scenes tour to learn about the animals and see them up close - every 30 minutes or so.  It was awesome!

Who knew camels could be trained.....  they did exercises like "ear" - where the camel would lean his head against the fence, or "open" and he'd open his mouth, and "follow" where they would walk next to the trainer (they are outside the fence, he's inside), and "spray" where the camel would look up so they could spray him with fly spray.  Seriously - cool!

Oh - and we just stuck with the trainers to see them work with the Cougars (aka mountain lions)....

"paw"....

 "stand up".....

 And then this guy said - I'm over you and walked away and started clawing his log.... yeah, I don't think I would've pushed him either.

We also got to see a real eagle's next.  It had fallen from a tree in a storm and they brought it in and reassembled it so that people could get an idea of it's actual size.... wow.

snow leopard 

We spent some time watching the playful river otters....

 Megan tried her hand at otter training. 

 

We also got to watch the trainer with the gibbons.... (look at that baby!)

 This guy was not behaving - he tried to grab the trainer through the fence - which ended that training session.

But they also spent time on a training session with the spider monkeys...  They were so fun to watch - they have an amazing tail - totally a 3rd arm.

Now - this sweet zoo has a resting gazebo in the middle of it.... and we found it.  Low and behold - it also has a little library.  So my girls up and sat and read books for a bit before traversing through the rest of the grounds.

oh - and we did find some peacock feathers....

Now - the girls had 2 favorite parts that were just not something they get to do in GA....
#1 - Turtle Town.... yes - they have a big ole area full of turtles and you get to go in and play with them....

 And for #2 - I'm linking these together....
There were the feeding areas and barnyard....

we fed the ducks and swan....

 the chickens....

 the goats, miniature horses and donkeys....

 My brave girls.... she was so terrified to try to feed the goats until one licked the daylights out of me.  She thought it was so funny and realized it doesn't bite.  For the rest of the time - that was her goat!

We had a hard time pulling ourselves away from the zoo... it was a fun day!
But when you are in Wahpeton - there is something you MUST do before you leave.....

 Go see the Wahpeton Wahpper!!!!  The world's Largest Catfish!!!!

Obviously it's not a "real" fish..... but I must admit I'm a "Roadside America" junkie.... I'll stop to read a historical marker, or see the world's largest ball of twine any day of the week (all while Tom laughs at me).  I think the journey is the best part of the adventure!!!!

So I was counting up and today we've been on the road for 19 days..... wow!
That means we are half way through our colossal trip! (sniff sniff)

We had another stop on the agenda for today - but a few road closures stopped me from getting there.  In case anyone wondered what driving in North Dakota was like....


Sometimes the road looks like this.....

Sometimes it's like this (gravel, in case you can't tell)....

 And sometimes you see this.....

Note that there is NOBODY on the road with me!
And YES.... that says speed limit 75!!!!!  Guess when it's this flat and straight - speed is not an issue.