Ambling Rileys: Take a Trip Tuesday: Natural Bridge Wildlife Ranch

Since our trip to the zoo was such a success, we I decided we should venture out on another trip this week. Jonathan had read about a wildlife preserve down in New Braunfels where a giraffe had recently given birth to twin babies. Knowing how much of a hit the giraffes were with Andrew at the zoo, we thought this might be a perfect place to take Andrew. It's mostly a drive through safari, but they do have an outside portion where you can walk around and see animals (much like a normal zoo), a petting zoo area, and a restaurant/giftshop.

Overall the trip was fairly successful, but we didn't enjoy it as much as the Waco Zoo. It took us awhile to get there, and so we decided to do the walk around portion first. Andrew seemed tired and was hungry, so he wasn't as excited about the animals as I thought he would be. The petting zoo had goats (even some teeny adorable baby goats), but Andrew didn't seem all that enthralled. He also threw a rock... what is it with my child and throwing rocks around animals? Ugh! Please don't call PETA, I promise we're working on it! He did think it was funny when the goats tried to eat our clothes and my purse. We thought he'd be more excited about the giraffes, but surprisingly he wasn't all that interested. He told us he was hungry, which may have been why he was so lukewarm about the animals. We ate at the restaurant there, which was actually pretty good, if overpriced.

The drive through portion of the park was really very neat, especially for Jonathan and I. Andrew was really interested in the animals for about 15 seconds, and then wanted to get out. This part was sort of a disappointment for him. People weren't following the signs to pull to the right if they were going to stop, so traffic was just sitting there. It was basically like being in a major traffic jam, but just surrounded by beautiful scenery and animals. Andrew liked the animals and liked pointing them out, but I think being stuck in his carseat really took away a lot of the excitement for him. He did love it when the animals walked up to the car, but very few got that close. Much like humans, they seemed to prefer to sit in the shade under the trees. I guess this part of the park was pretty good for having a small baby, because I just sat in the back of the car and held Ben for this portion. It was a little bit difficult for me to enjoy the park as much as I could have, but better to be holding a baby in an air-conditioned car than out in the heat of the day.

Overall it was a fun trip, but I might recommend it for families with slightly older children (or children who are more inclined to sit nicely in their carseat for an hour plus looking at scenery). I think elementary-aged children could really enjoy the park, but our active three-year-old wasn't all that impressed!

That smile doesn't look staged at all!

Wow, Andrew, don't look too excited!

One of the babies! I was excited!

He was wiped out already.

His penny - he was excited about this!

Trying to get him to pose in front of the sign... obviously a huge success!

He saw a ranger-type vehicle. I think this was the most excited he got the whole time!

What, no food?

A baby something.... we bought the $3 book to tell us the names of all the animals, but Andrew thinks it's a book and likes to read it in the car.

Look! Ben came too!

This was as close as we got to the zebras. And now all Andrew says about the trip is that zebras bite. There was a sign that said that, and now he repeats that all the time.