Travel has been a little more limited over the last two years, so to make up for lost time, we just completed a family road trip that took us through 19 states and over 5000 miles. We created so many great memories, and I’ve got lots of fun stories to share with you, but I’ve got to start with animals, since our Plants and Pets event is rapidly approaching. (See below or click here for more information. Be sure to RSVP for yourself and your pets so that we have an idea of how many animals and people are coming.)
One of the stops on our trip was Tupelo, Mississippi. It was on the drive between two of our destinations, so we decided to pop in and visit the birthplace of Elvis Presley. It was neat to see where he was born and grew up, but not being huge Elvis fans, it was a quick stop for us. Our travel rule is that a state doesn’t count unless you’ve actually done something in it, so just driving through or going to an airport doesn’t get a pin in our map for visiting a state.
The Elvis home didn’t seem like quite enough, so Kim searched for fun things to do in Tupelo and the Tupelo Buffalo Park kept coming up. From the pictures, it looked kind of exciting, so we decided to check it out. And we are glad we did. It was a drive-through animal park. After we got checked in and bought some buckets of feed we climbed back into our car and headed out into the park area. The animals were everywhere! There were ostriches, zebras, camels, llamas, and ponies, but the bison were by far the coolest. They are huge, strong, and not afraid to come right up to your vehicle, so when we’d hold the feed out, it was all we could do not to drop our buckets. One even got close enough that, at least in the picture, it looks like I’m giving him a little smooch. The girls took a little time to get brave enough to open their windows, but once they did our car was filled with squeals of delight as they enjoyed how friendly and inquisitive the animals were. Although this adventure wasn’t on our original plan for the day, it ended up being one of the most memorable.
Speaking of friendly animals, our Plants and Pets event is just a few weeks away, and we’re putting the finishing touches on all of the details. On Saturday, August 20th, we’ll have a seminar on Pet-Friendly Houseplants and Keeping Pets out of Plants in the greenhouse at 10am, and from 9am to 1pm there will be a free photo booth, information about pet-friendly landscape and indoor plants, the Humane Society and AnimalLuvrs Dream Rescue will be coming out to share information about pet adoption, and Tikiz Shaved Ice will be selling some frozen treats to help cool you off. That Saturday will also feature the kick-off of our annual yard sale where you will find some great deals on select pottery, garden accents, and plants. We hope that you and your pet will join us for a great day in the garden. All types of pets are welcome, so please RSVP here or e-mail us to let us know if you and your animal pals will be attending. Anyone have a llama out there?
