Eleven! Part 4

Bearizona

When A. saw the brochure for Bearizona she knew she wanted to go there.  I was expecting it to be an overpriced tourist trap.  Bearizona is just off I-40, right before you get to Williams.  The turn off for the GC is to the north, Williams is to the south.  In other words, it's right there! LOL  Since the weather was so bad leaving the canyon, I told A. we'd see what it was like by the time we got to the Interstate.

You probably know where this is going, why else would I be writing a post about an attraction we didn't see?  Yes, the skies cleared up, the sun came down and there was a rainbow shining w/ the end right over Bearizona!  Okay, that last part was made up, but, the skies did clear and the rain did stop, so I told A. we'd check out how much it cost and if it was crazy expensive, we'd have to pass.  She was good with that and I think was happy that I was at least willing to give it a try.

As tourist places go, the admission wasn't too bad (but you probably already knew that since I'm writing this post and why would I be writing a post about someplace we didn't go? Right? :) ).  It was $11 dollars to drive through, spend as long as we wanted looking at the animals.  I asked the gal at the entry how active the animals would be given the torrential downpour and thunder and lightening storm that had just hit and she said, "They love this weather!"  Good enough for us.  We paid our admission, rolled up our windows and headed through the gates.  We saw all sorts of animals, most of them large domestic types like, bison, sheep, goats.  The website mentions wolves, but that enclosure must not be finished yet as the only wolves we saw were baby cubs at the visitor center.  The last enclosure you go through was for the black bears.  They have 9 bears and they were active!  One was pacing the fence, obviously wanting to get the heck out of there.

A few more were lounging on the ground.  A couple more were eating apples.  One bear gave us a treat.  He (maybe a she? I don't really know) was away from the other bears and grunting around a tree.  Just as we drove by he stood up on his hind legs and started to scratch at the tree.  A. thought he was going to climb it. ;)

At the end of the drive they have a gift shop, snack bar, restrooms and, the real draw, bear and wolf cubs.  They were so cute.  The wolves were sleeping but the two baby bears were pacing back and forth trying to figure out how they could jump over the electrical wire and ditch.  A. spent a long time watching them and drawing one of the cubs.  We stayed until the thunder started rumbling overhead again and decided it was time to get back into the car before we got drenched.  We left Bearizona as the first drops began to fall and by the time we were back on the freeway, it was another downpour.  We enjoyed our time at Bearizona and were really glad that the weather cleared up long enough for us to enjoy it. :)

Here are some pictures from Bearizona.  Most aren't great because we had to take them through wet glass! LOL

Burro's

Big Horn Sheep

American White Bison

Dall Sheep

Black Bear eating apples

Wolf cubs

Bear Cubs

A. studying the cubs

A.'s painting of the cub

We drove back to the hotel, had a light dinner and since the sky had cleared up again, A went swimming while I read my book.  The pool was a little cold for A. so she ended up sitting in the hot tub.  I didn't have my bathing suit, so I sat on the edge with my fee in.  We had hiked so much that day, the warm bubbly water felt really good on our muscles. :)  

Later that night, A. painted her drawings, I read my book.  We talked about what we were going to do the next day, our last day up in Flagstaff and the day we needed to drive home.  We hadn't really decided what we were going to do before we went to bed but we had some ideas to think about.  I fell asleep early while A. painted long into the night. :)