Wild Animal Safari

 

We went to Wild Animal Safari on March 4th in 2023.

Brief Summary:

Place: Wild Animal Safari. 
Location: Stafford, Missouri.
Distance: 137 miles.
Duration: 2:10 minutes.

Members: Me, my wife and my daughter.

Experience:

            We woke up around 6:15am, packed our lunch and started around 9:20am. Climate was good on that day, chilled wind was there but it was sunny. This safari was also in Missouri only.

There are so many attractions for tourists around Missouri but not in Bentonville. So we were having each weekend one trip to Missouri. We reached the safari around 11:30am. By the time we got there, the weather was little more cold than Bentonville. We got the tickets and started the walkabout zoo first around 11:35am. At the entrance only there was a lion and a lioness. We had very closer look of those, by the time we got there they were roaring. We heard the lion roar in DC zoo but here it was roaring little louder. Then we saw the mountain lion, Bengal tiger and white tiger. Bengal tiger was taking rest and the white tiger sat far away. After that saw some kind of monkeys, giraffes and a wild cat. We never saw this wild cat before, it has horns like things beside it's ears. After that we saw some reptiles and some kind of lizards, tortoise. Then suddenly we saw the white tiger was walking. Had a pretty good view of it. Suddenly the feeding people were passing by and the tiger thought they will feed him but no. At that moment it was walking very aggressively and stalking. Around 11:55am we finished the walkabout zoo then we went to had our lunch. There were so many picnic benches and can see the lions and tigers from the picnic area, that was so cool. Around 12:30pm we had our lunch and then went to see the white tiger once more. Still it was walking, we thought by watching people it was hungry. Around 1:06pm started the actual safari which is behind the walkabout zoo. 

        In the safari entrance there were so many deers and only one big deer with long horns. Then we saw llamas, Jersey cows. We also saw couple of Rams, many zebras and camels. Never before we saw the Ram in live safari.

Everyone is feeding the animals before us,  so we were going very slow. Funny thing was no animal was eating the food from the people in-front of us. This safari has very big place but they do not have many animals. We saw lot of pigs also here, then saw so many zebras and couple of camels. We felt little bore in middle of the safari because there were not many animals and also the people in the car in-front of us had very long frequent stops. Around 2:38pm we came out from safari. we bought some drinks and dippin-dots and headed to the Candy factory and Worlds largest gift shop around 2:45pm. Around 3:08pm we reached the candy factory, it was Redmon's gas station and they were running the candy factory and the World's largest gift shop. There we saw so many variety of candy and many flavors also there. We collected some flavors and some of those were in different shapes. One side of the candy shop they used to prepare the cakes and pies in different shapes but they did not open on that day.

There was a beautiful and big restroom also, actually we read comments about that restroom but we did not believe at first, but truly it was really a wonderful restroom in a gas station. We bought so many candy there and went to world's largest gift shop around 3:40pm. This gift gift shop was really a big one and they had all kinds gifts over there. Toys, garden, house decoration things, souvenirs and so many other fun things also there. One vintage model old blue car also there. We bought couple of toys and souvenirs and got out around 4:54pm. Started to home around 5:00pm and reached home around 7:15pm. We really had a great time in trip especially with lions view in safari and also with candy factory. We tried each candy every day but we like some varieties only but one candy is very spicy that jalapeno flavor we cannot eat it fully. That was the first time we ate spicy candy. Anyway overall trip is very fun. All is Well.

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Dickerson park zoo and Fantastic Caves - Missouri Trip (Part III)

 

Brief Summery:

Places: Dickerson park zoo and Fantastic Caves.
Location: Bentonvile, Arkansas and Springfield, Missouri.
Distance: Snake world - 52.7 miles, Springfield - 123 miles.
Members: Me, my wife and my daughter.
Duration: Snake world - 1 hour 15 mins and Springfield - 2 hours 1 min.

Experience:

20th February 
Dickerson Park Zoo and Fantastic Caverns:

The next day we woke up around 5:45am, packed our lunch and started around 9:10am. We want to book the new car which we selected on saturday.
Reached to showroom around 11:05am, booked the car and got out around 11:05am. We had our lunch around 12:10pm and then started to zoo around 12:30pm. The climate was sunny outside but still it was little cold with the wind. We reached zoo at 12:50pm. This time we also had a baby stroller like others, we were very happy about that. In the zoo first we saw small spider monkeys and peackocks. These peacocks were everywhere in the zoo. Then saw the wild boars, parrots, some other monkeys and black swan.

We saw the black swan in Vizag, India and in Thailand zoo after that here only we saw it. There was a lake and a stream, we crossed a bridge and then we went to see cheethahs. They have many cheethahs there. Couple of those were very active, their walking style was so beatiful. The bears are sleeping in a tree branch. Then the tigers and lion also taking rest , we did not get proper view of those. Then we saw wolves, which are also very active and little big in size. After we were coming back from wolves we saw tiger was roaming there so immediatly went over there. So atleast we saw tiger was roaming but the lions always sleep in zoo. Next we saw zebras and giraffies. The number of animals were less here but the area of zoo was big. After that we tried the simulator of wind cyclone in Africa, it was fun.

Then we went into reptile house, there we saw big snakes like rattle snakes, pythons, dragons, skunks, trantula, these reminded us of our yesterday's snake world trip. We saw some dangerous frogs also here, they were colorful and some were so tiny. Next one was the green anakonda, we never saw anakonda before in any zoo. This reptile house also have lot of snakes and other venamous creatures but not compared to the snake world.  Then we two big tortoises. These were very big and they were 100 years old. We saw the big tortoises before but do not the age of them and also these were kept in mirror room not in the open ground. This was also one of the good zoo, we caught two new kind of species that was cheethah and the green anakonda. We enjoyed it. 

Suddenly we realized that we were running out of time for fantastic caverns. So immediately ran to the caves around 2:40pm and reached around 3:00pm there. We enquired about the tour so they said it was about to start in 5 mins.

If we had delayed 2 more mins there we'll miss there tram tour in caves but we made it. After 5 minutes they started the tour. The tour guide has started explaining about that caves. Many years ago a tourist with his dog has found these caves. First the dog went into one hole and the man followed the dog. Then he reailized it might be a cave so he gave an advertisement in paper for the diggers. Like that these caves were found, they shown the video also of it. The tour gide explained how the people in olden days worked in caves without power. Around 4:05pm tour was ended and started to home around 4:20pm. We liked the caves very much , we have to visit these caves in tram only. Previously we visited other two types of caves one is in boat another one sand cave, like these this cave is also a different one. Around 7:50pm we reached home.

The whole trip was fantastic. In three days each day we had different experience along with fun. We enjoyed alot in this trip. All is Well.

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Snake World - Missouri trip (Part II)

 

Brief Summery:

Places:  Snake world.
Location: Bentonvile, Arkansas.
Distance: 52.7 miles.
Members: Me, my wife and my daughter.

Duration: 1 hour 15 mins

Experience:

19th February 
Snake World:

This Snake world was in Bentonville only and it waas very near to us. So we started to snake world around 2:30pm after we had lunch. The climate was so pleasant on that day. The road to the snake world was too different, it's like a snake shape only. The road passed between two mountains. Then we were going up on the mountain , we were wondering whether there was any reptile house or not. After 10 to 15 minutes around 3:40pm we saw a small house with name Snake World. We were shocked and did not expect that. Parked our car there and called to confirm that was the right address or not. They said that was the right location and coming out for us to show the snake world. A lady came out and asked us to go inside the front door and wait till she will come and show us everything. While we were waiting there she came with main door keys. She gave us tickets then we entered into the house. First we got very awful smell in that place. In first room they have some cat fishes in a tub, rats and mices also there. So many sketches, drawings and some unwanted old stuff also there.  In next room so many snakes are there in individual glass boxes. She started explaining about each snake by holding those in her hand. My wife was very scared of that and she did not want to take them out from the glass boxes. So she was explaining without taking them out from boxes. 

 They have so many kinds and colours of snakes and pythons. Some baby snakes were also there and some were so beautiful. Next we saw some monitor lizards, skunks. These snakes and lizards are harmless ones but next we entered into another room with full of rattle snakes.After we entered into this room while she was explaining my wife started take pictures of those snakes then immediately couple of snakes started rattling their tail. The sound was really scary, even though snakes were inside the boxes that entire room gave us chills wit that rattling sound. She explained so many things about the rattle snakes ecspecially small baby rattle snake was very poisnes than all other snakes because the baby one doesnot know how much amount of poison to release when it attacks so it attacks with all the poison it has. that's why it was dangerous. Then we saw one big tortoise, one big Turtle and other small turtles. 

The tortoise was exactly like a big rock and the one big turtle very strong she said the bite force very poweful like it can cut off your wrist from hand. 

 Next the small turtles were so cute and they all were feeling so shy. While she was feeding them then only one by one was coming out. And also she shown that how she feed the snakes with big tweezers. There were plenty of rats and mice in their house to feed these snakes. Some snakes only eat the rats and mice but the smaller one eat the little big insects and bugs. For all these they feed them like once a week and it will take complete 3 hours to feed them. Then we saw 3 big Pythons and small other snakes. These pythons are very big and colourfull. The Yellow one was really a beatiful one.  Other small ones were beautiful too, ecspecially the black and white one was really nice. At first we thought this snake world was a disaster and felt that we wasted our time. But it's really different one. Our opinion was completly wrong , we spent really a good time here and also we learnt alot like how they feed them, taking care of them. Commonly if it was in a Zoo we never learnt any of these except the names. We never saw any reptile house like this before. Really we had a good time here. It was really worth to come here. Around 4:50pm we got out from the snake world and started to home. We took long route to explore so this time also road so different it was like big ride and around 7:00pm we reached home.

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Wonders of Wildlife Museum and Aquarium - Missouri Trip (part I)

 

We went to Missouri on 18th to 20th February in 2023.

Brief Summery

Places: Wonders of wildlife Mueseum and Aquarium, 
Location: Springfield, Missouri.
Distance: 123 miles.
Members: Me, my wife and my daughter.

Duration: 2 hours 1 min.

Experience:

On 18th February
Wonders of wild life Museum and Aquarium:

We woke up around 5:30am and packed our lunch. We filled the gas and started around 8:30am. This museum and aquarium are in Missouri state. Climate was good and sunny but windy as well. We were taking new car this year so started to showroom first.On the way we saw so many horses, cows and farms. It felt like driving on village valley instead of interstate. We rached showroom around 10:48am. Asked for , they said that for the test drive was not available in that time, some other customers were checking on it. So they showed the cedan model for the interior and then we selected the outside and inside features of the car which we wanted. They gave us the quote of it and then we got out from the showroom around 12:20pm. We had our lunch around 12:30pm and started to Aquarium around 1:05pm. Around 1:48pm reached the museum and aquarium. It was too much cold wind out there.

The entrance of the Aquarium was so nice. They have beautiful water fountain to attract the tourists. After we went inside, we asked about the tickets. They said that we have to go up, there the people will give the tickets. While we were going up by escalator they decorated the entrance very well. They decorated it with wild theme with bears, deers and trees. We got the tickets then started our tour in there. First we entered into a theater , they were playing the video of Jhonny Morris, the founder this aquarium. He was explaining about fishing, we don't have much interest about it so after 5 minutes we got out from there. Then entered into the museum entrance first, So this museum had all the animal statues which were arranged in lively fashion.

First they started it with bysons and then bears, deers and tigers, lions and mountain lion and more. And they have paintings and pictures of old times showing how they hunt the other animals in the forest. These wild animals statues were so real looks like they were hunting us only. Some birds, sheep and so many types of deer statues and so many other little animals also there. They saved some hunted deers from olden days and with thier horns they built a beutiful arch, it was like another way into the wild. In middle of that museum they put live penguins there. Then we saw some other animals which live in the antarcitica like polar bears, wolves, walrus and then saw elephants, giraffes, zebras, monkeys, ostriches, Crocodiles. so many kind of birds and their nests. Then we saw beautiful and thrilling scene, they arranged some lions and lionesses around the tent in the Africa.

And we saw cheethah, leapords and hyenas. After 10 minutes we were done with museum and entered into the Aquarim exhibit.In entrance of the aquarium there was big 3D painting showing how people do the fishing in sea. Then we saw small fishes in big tank. After that saw so many kind of fishes, corals, sea horses. They decorated the aquarium also very well. It was like we went into a shipreck under the sea. After sometime crossed a walk-in bridge, at the end of the bridge there was a tree house. Then we saw sharks, there was a great white shark also but it was small one. Then enterd into tunnel like we can see all fishes and sharks above us. There was white crocodile also, which we never saw crocodile before. So many sting rays also there, we touched one of that sting ray. It was smooth and soft like a jelly. We saw so many other fishes like nemo fish, lion fish, saw fish. We never saw this moving before, always sleeping. We bought our sovenier and got out from the aquarium around 3:48pm and started to homme around 4:05pm. We did little shopping an then we reached home around 8:00pm.

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Turpentine Creek Wild life Refuge

 

We went to Turpentine Creek wild life refuge and Walmart museum on 12th February 2023.

Brief Summary:

Place: Turpentine Creek Wild life refuge

Location: Bentonville, Arkansas.

Distance: 41.3 miles

Members: Me, my wife and my daughter.

Duration: 1 hour 8 mins.

Experience:

We woke up around 6:30am and then got ready. We had our breakfast around 8:30am. Then started to wild life refuge around 8:56am. Actually based on our plan we have to start around half an hour before because we booked tickets for tram tour at 10:00am. If we miss the tour time then we have to wait one hour so we were worried about that. Climate was very good on that day , little chill wind was also there but overall we had good weather. We crossed the big bridge on the river. It was nice scenic view on the bridge. We saw boats on the river. Seems like few people are also doing kayaking and fishing. This refuge park was very far from the town and its located on small mountain. Around 10:01am we reached the refuge park. Immediately we entered the park and asked them about the tour they said that they were about to start if we go fast we can catch them. So we went quickly over there and we caught the tram tour on time. They started tour around 10:06am. They have so many lions, lioness, tigers and white tigers. In the tour we saw one Lion first. There was only one male lion and few female lions. The lion was sleeping. Not just in the refuge but we saw lions in some other zoo parks as well sleeping all the time. Actually a lion sleeps 18-20 hours per day. So we did not expect more than this, at least we saw little near than before. 

After that saw some mountain lions and some wild cats. Then we saw many tigers, lionesses and some of them were cross breeds also like ligers, tigons and couple of other cross breeds also there. Also they are trying get the new cross breed of male tiger and female lion. So totally they have around 95 species in those 50 of them are tigers only. Some tigers are very active so we thought that we were there at right time. We felt little cold in the tram. The tour was ended around 10:45am, they dropped us at the starting point of the park only so that we can see the animals by walk. Actually they have Bears, Hyena, Black leopord and Jaguar. Along with these we saw few Tigers which we saw from tram. But we could not see all of them. Then we saw black leopard and jaguar, they were very actively roaming at that time. After that we went to see the bears, on the way to bears we saw the mountain lions and wild cats which we saw from tram. There were no bears, all of them were inside only because some people were cleaning over there.

So got back to see the tigers. Some tigers were sleeping but one tiger was very active when it saw us. While we were taking photos it was roaming very actively sometimes it was trying touching and pushing the net to catch us(but it could not as the fence was so strong). And also we did not see the hyena, when enquired about that they said that it sent to rehabilitation center. There was one only grizzly bear in separate small cave

 but it was feeling very shy to come out. At last when we want to go out we saw small window for the bear cave so went to check our luck. Yes, we saw it very near from window it was eating something. We saw big nails and tooth of it, we felt very happy for that view of bear. We thought that we missed bears and felt little disappointment but we were happy when we saw it. We got out from refuge around 11:34am.Started to home around 11:40am and reached around 1:00pm. We had our lunch around 1:30pm and were thinking about what we can do remaining half day. We then decided to go to Walmart museum but not the original one because that was in renovating process but they moved all the stuff to another place except the Sam Walton Truck. Anyway we want to go for that also so we started around 2:30pm to Walmart museum. Around 3:00pm we reached there but it was little difficult to find out the ledger building. So we called them they said directions, it was two streets away from that renovating place and we reached there around 3:15pm.

We got to know how the big store Walmart has started. We read how many struggles Sam Walton has faced and how Walmart was evolved. We did not see the Sam Walton's truck only, missed it.  We got out from the museum around 3:40pm. Then we started to home around 4:00pm and reached home around 4:30pm. We saw two different places in one day. We were very happy with that wild life refuge park and learned something from the museum because even though it was museum that was a success story from the struggle of one of the great business man. We have to remember the people like these and have to go forward with courage to achieve our dreams. This small one day trip gave us so many happy moments because it was first trip with our daughter and will never forget this trip. All is Well.

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Pennsylvania Trip

 

We went to Pennsylvania on July 2nd 2021.(Independence Day weekend).

Brief Summary:

 Place: Pennsylvania.

 Location: Pennsylvania.

 Distance: 316 miles.

 Members: Me, my wife and my friends.

 Transport: Audi Q3.

 Duration: 5 hours 34 minutes.

Experience: 

Day 1 - Cabin:

On 2nd July we woke up around 6:30am. Around 10:00am I went to airport, parked our car there and brought the rental car. we started at 11:16am. First we went to the Indian store to get some vegetables and few other items. We decided to cook all our favorite delicious items at the site.

We started our journey to cabin around 12:38pm. Before the start of or journey we brought the food for lunch. Around 1:20pm we had our lunch. First we drove on the interstate for about an hour and then our journey was completely on mountain road. On the way we saw so many horses, cows, farms and fields. We saw so many beautiful sceneries as well. Weather was so good as well. It was not too sunny on that day. There were trees on either side of the road and were intertwined and look like beautiful arches. Sometimes we passed the road in between two mountains. After sometime we reached the city of Pennsylvania. Before we reached the cabin we saw so many types of cabins which made us think how our cabin will look like. We thought our cabin might be in middle of the trees and in a lonely place. While we were thinking like that, suddenly we  got doubt if were we travelling on wrong direction, because we were still on the narrow road and seems like we were reaching the dead end. The road was not suited for travelling in a car. After sometime we entered into very narrow road still we did not see our cabin but within 2 minutes we saw our cabin in the middle of the trees and it was in completely a lonely place like exactly how we thought about it. We reached our cabin around 5:45pm.We entered into cabin and put all the luggage in the living room and checked rooms, beds, water, electricity and everything to see if they are in good condition or not. Yes they were in really good condition we really liked it very much. Then we reached our car in the parking spot in front of the cabin.

Then we saw a pavement into the cabin. Beside the cabin there was a big ground, in that ground there was a picnic bench and a big fire pit and some chairs. On the left side of the cabin there was an old fashioned bore pump and beside of it there was a small stream. The entrance door of the cabin was like creaky net door and there was hall before the main entrance. there was a another picnic bench and so many out door games also there. In the main hall there was big sofa and a tea table, left side of the hall there was one bedroom. In the hall under the TV there was a wooden box with some indoor board games. After the hall there was a kitchen after that one full bath and another bedroom also there. In the hall there was a staircase to the another bedroom with half bath. In that bedroom there was an antique wooden box with full of teddy bears. Other side of the bed there was a closet with extra comforters and pillows and one wooden bench also there. Around 7:30pm our friends arrived. They also took a look around the cabin and liked it as well. We had our dinner around 10:00pm. Then we saw a movie until 12:30am and around 12:45am we fell asleep.

Day 2 - Laurel Caves and Living treasure animal park :

Next day , it was Saturday we woke up around 5:30am and got ready. we had our breakfast around 8:30am. Then we started to Laurel Caves. It was our first attraction in this trip and it was one hour away from our cabin.

We saw so many white horses in the beautiful farms on our way, it was just like a movie scene. We reached caves around 10:55am. These caves are very huge and very deep. They arranged the caves with very beautiful lights. These lights gave awesome look to the caves. Some places in the caves are very slippery. In the caves some ways were very narrow and low height also. Our knees almost touched the ground. We saw different glowing bacteria also , it was coming from the cave's walls liquid. These bacteria are harmless and just glow in the dark. When we went deep down to the caves it was getting cold. This was one of the sand cave in the world. Because of some chemical reactions the cave walls are transforming into sand. We enjoyed the caves a lot. This was different experience than with other caves. We came out from the caves around 12:32pm. 

We started to Falling Water around 12:40pm. But the Falling water entry tickets are sold out so we planned to go to the Seven spring Adventure park. We reached the park around 1:40pm , we enquired about pass, activities timings and everything so it was too late to take the pass, even if we take the pass we cannot complete all the activities so we decided to go to the Living treasures animal park. We had our lunch around 2:30pm on picnic table. Then around 3:15pm we started to go to Zoo. We took the entrance tickets for the zoo. In the zoo we saw a big tortoise first, it was really a big one and was eating carrots. The shell of the tortoise was very hard it was not doing anything even though we tapped on it. Then we saw the deers, ducks, camels, bysons, horses, bears, tigers, wolves and birds, some kind of reptiles as well.

We fed some of these animals. It was very nice experience we had while we were feeding to the animals. We enjoyed a lot with those. And some kind of animals and ducks are gentle only but when we go near to them with food they were very aggressive, sometimes they were eating and poking our fingers. We did not get hurt but it was funny experience. There we saw Ponies also and kids were riding them. Our friend's son also rode those. It was a lovely moment for them too. Then we saw so many types of birds like eagles, owls, parrots, peacocks swans and so many kinds of hen also were there. I never seen before these many kind of hen. We went to zoo in perfect time I think as all the animals were very active. Especially the grizzly bears and wolves are very active and they were roaming very fast in their boundaries and also bears and wolves were big in size. We saw two tigers there one was white and other one was Bengal tiger,

they are also huge but they were just resting. We saw so many kinds of monkeys also and as usual they were very active and aggressive with funny acts. Even though we know how the monkey will behave we did not get bore unknowingly we spent a lot of time near those cages. We saw many zoos before but we enjoyed this one a lot. We never fed animals like this. The animals also were very active and seems like happy to see humans. We came out from zoo around 5:20pm and we reached our cabin around 6:00pm. We decided to put campfire and make some barbecue items. Then we pitched our tent. The ground was very smooth with soft grass so it does not took much time to pitch the tent. Then the campfire, it took a lot of time for us to arrange it because of the cloudy weather the wood took too long time to burn. But at last we arranged the campfire. Meanwhile we were cooking some barbecue stuff to eat. After sometime everything was setup- the camp fire, hot and spicy food, tent. We sat around the fire, eating food and were talking about the caves, zoo and entire our trip of that day. Then we went into the tent and played couple of card games. After sometime it started getting cold, so we went into the cabin and had dinner around 10:00pm. We started to plan our next day of our trip. We had a plan to go to Seven spring Adventure Park , so we booked our tickets online to the park and for adventure activities. Then we watched a movie and slept around 12:00am. 

Day-3: Seven Spring Adventure park

The next day morning we woke up around 6:00am and had our breakfast around 10:15am. Then we started to Seven Spring Adventure Park around 10:50am.

We reached the park around 11:15am. Then we entered into the ticket counter, we already booked for all day pass for all the activities so we got the wrist bands(passes) for the entrance to all the activities. Once we came out from the counter we started our adventure activities in the park. In the park we saw big ground first, everybody were roaming, taking photos and kids were playing games over there. There are some rides and water activities and some indoor games also there. First we decided to do water activities. Water activities are little away from the rides, we did one and half mile hike also for that. We saw big lake over there, we wore the life jackets first and did the water car riding, paddle boats, paddle cycling. This paddle cycling was a different one, we never saw it before anywhere, it was very interesting one but we have to ride it slowly. Then we did all other rides also. While we were doing kayaking we sung songs like in the old movies and we had the perfect weather also at that time, cloudy and cool soothing wind.

We enjoyed a lot with water rides. Then we were ready to go down to do the other activities in the park. There was a ride called alpine slide to go down. In this ride we have to ride our car on the slide. It was really funny and adventurous, we all enjoyed this ride a lot. Once we came down in front of our eyes we saw so many outdoor and indoor activities. We plan to do outdoor activities first then after lunch indoor activities. Then we did the Chair lift there, we saw amazing views, mountains and we saw people who were doing the alpine slide. While we were doing chair lift ride we thought that we can do the alpine slide one more time once we reached there but there was long queue so we did not do that. Then we all did the trampoline thing and kids did the Rockwall climbing. We had packed our lunch from the cabin so we had our lunch on park bench around 3:00pm. Then we went to play indoor games. First we started playing indoor games with Miniature golf, it was very funny and little bit difficult to hit the ball into the hole in one shot. 

Sometimes it took too many shots to hit the ball but we all are enjoyed it. Next we went to play Bowling, this was a favorite indoor game for me and my wife. We really enjoyed to play this game with our friends it was like competition between us. Then kids wanted to play in swimming pool but we did not allow as there are already too many people in the pool and felt it might not be safe. Then we went to play Arcade games. We bought four cards and we all played got many coupons to buy toys. After that before we bought the toys we had our dinner around 8:10pm. Then we went to buy with the coupons, there was a big line to change the coupons into points to the card and finally we got our points to the cards then bought small toys with all the points. We played these Arcade games very quickly because it was getting time to get a place to watch the fire works. Then we came down to watch fireworks around 9:10pm and  finally we got the perfect place on ground to watch. Around 9:30pm they started the fire works and for 15 minutes continuously they lit up the fireworks . We watched the fireworks before also many times in different places but these were really different and beautiful and also sitting on the ground and watching that was a perfect view. We watched fireworks before in Disney land in Florida but we like these fireworks more. Then we reached the cabin around 10:25pm. We packed all our stuff and talked about our entire 3 days trip. Then the next day we had a plan to see the Laurel state park and the waterfalls. Then we slept around 1:15am.   

Day-4 Laurel hill state park

The next day morning we woke up around 7:00am. That was the last day of our trip so we were all busy in packing all our stuff to vacate the cabin.

Around 10:15am we had our breakfast then we packed all the stuff and placed those in our car and last we were ready to leave. We stayed in this cabin for 3 days only but when we were leaving we felt like it was our home. We played games here, enjoyed the small outdoor games activities, did camping, cooked delicious items. We enjoyed a lot in this cabin. Around 11:40am we vacated our cabin and started to Laurel hill state park. While we were going in that route we saw the horses and beautiful scenic views one last time. In 15 minutes around 12:00pm we reached the Laurel hill state park. We saw there was a big lake and so many people were playing over there. We parked our car in parking lot and went there to see what type activities are there.

There we saw all the water activities only and also we already done those in Seven Spring park. Even though if we want to do those again there was a pretty big line to the tickets so we did not go there. Previously at the cabin we came to know there was beautiful waterfall in that park, we searched for nearly 20 minutes and then finally we got the information that we have to do the small hike to see that falls. Then we started hiking to the falls around 12:24pm. It was the first time we did the hiking without shoes but without a problem because it was not very steep. We used the sticks as support for us. We talked about our entire trip while we were walking. While we were talking we heard the water sound after sometime, reached the waterfalls. The falls really are beautiful but these falls are not natural, they are man made. But they built it very beautifully, almost looks like natural falls. The water was very cold, in that hot weather we enjoyed the temperature of water, we felt so fresh. We took lot of photos there and then started to go back. We reached the parking lot and started to go home around 1:40pm. We had our lunch in Taco bell and reached airport. We returned the rental car and drove home in our car. Reached home around 7:00pm. 

    We really enjoyed this trip very much. We stayed in excellent vintage cabin, saw different places, had thrilling experiences, saw beautiful scenic views, did different activities and played lot of games. We happily spent these holidays with our friends, collected so many beautiful memories and happily reached our home with those. All is Well.

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Smoky Mountains

 

We went to Smoky Mountains on May 25th 2019.(Memorial Day Weekend)

Brief Summary:
Place: Smoky Mountains.
Location: Tennessee.
Distance: 423 miles.
Members: Me and my wife.
Transport: Nissan Versa.
Duration: 7 hours.

Experience:
       On 25th May we started around evening 5:45 pm from home, still it was sunny on that day but the weather was not so hot.We had our dinner around 8:00 pm in the car.We booked a cabin in Smoky Mountains.Around 1:05 am we reached cabin . Our cabin number is 6. We have good drive way to our cabin. We parked our car in front of the cabin. There were nearly 10 cabins around us.We entered into the cabin.Cabin was so beautiful.

We once looked at the entire cabin except the balcony because there were lot of insects. Then we slept around 1:20 am. The next morning we woke up around 6:00 am. After sometime we went into balcony we have Jacuzzi over there along with beautiful river view. The scenery was very beautiful from our balcony. We liked it very much. We used the Jacuzzi entire 3 days every morning and evening.My wife liked it so much.This is for the first time my wife experienced Jacuzzi. We got out after sometime and had our breakfast around 8:20 am. Then we started to Clingman's Dome around 8:56 am. We reached around 9:44 am. Then we did hike 0.5 miles to reach Dome. We nearly took 20 minutes as it was very steep, steeper rather than our normal hikes. We got tired but not so much that we had to stop. Around 10:10 am we reached Dome.From that top it was a great view of the Smoky Mountains.

Some of the mountains were covered with small clouds and some of them were shining in the sun light. It was beautiful to see. We spent sometime over there and we reached the parking around 10:40 am. Then we started to the Dollywood Theme Park. On the way to the theme park we saw a baby bear on the tree. We reached Theme Park around 11:44 am. We parked our car and we saw a tram which was taking people into the park we also went into the park by the tram. We took our tickets for two days to Dollywood. The Theme Park was so crowded, everyone was enjoying their weekend.There are many rides to do for the older as well as for kids. We also did 4 rides over there. First we did big ride in the entire park named Wild Eagle. That ride was so crazy, there were lot of twists and turns and we could experience how it feels when Eagle really swoops down in a jiffy from such great heights to catch its prey. We enjoyed a lot with that ride, then we did another ride called Fire Chaser Express. It was for the first time we experienced reverse drive, the cart was going backwards direction before it halted. Then around 2:30 pm we had our lunch. We went for another ride called Dare Devils Falls. This ride splashes into water ride but not fully a water ride. We enjoyed a lot with this ride as we were almost wet when it slid into the water pool. We still had some time left before we go on our next ride. So we had Dippin' Dots in the hot sunny climate. The atmosphere is very lively in the park with lot of crowded cheering, wandering, dancing, playing music. We took Dollywood express train.

It showed us the entire theme park. It was a pleasant ride. We could see the dark smoke puffed from the steam engine. Then we got back to our parking by the tram around 6:15 pm.Then around 7:40 pm we reached our cabin. There was a river flowing across the road as we drove to the cabin. The river was so beautiful. Many people were doing fishing ,hiking and camping over there. We had our dinner around 8:40 pm and then we discovered chess board on the dining table and took some time to find the chess pieces. We played one game and slept around 11:00 pm.
      The next day morning we woke up around 7:40 am. We had our breakfast around 8:40 am. We then started to Gatlinburg Space Needle around 9:05 am. We reached to Space Needle around 10:18 am. We parked our car near to the space needle. Then we went to the counter, got our tickets and waited for 10 minutes for elevator to arrive. It is like an observation tower with an altitude of 407 feet. We went to observation deck around 10:25 am which is at 400th feet. We have 360 degrees view of Smoky Mountains from there.

That was wonderful view we captured in our mobile cameras.From the observation deck we saw many carts, doing rides to the top. That name is Gatlinburg SkyLift park, actually it was in our plan but we did not expect that it would be so near to the space needle. After sometime we got down from the tower around 10:38 am. Then we started to SkyLift park on foot. We reached around 10:45 am. we stood in the line for almost 45 minutes, then we sat down on the cart. It took exactly 4 minutes to reach the top. We reached to the top around 11:42 am. There was a big sky bridge, the bridge was so beautiful and some part of the floor of the bridge had  glass bottom so we can see the valley right beneath us. My wife was so afraid to cross the bridge as the bridge was shaking while we were walking and she did not dare see through the glass floor. After walking slowly with my wife we reached other end of bridge. The view from the deck was wonderful. We captured some photos and got back to the first end of bridge again walking slowly with my wife. Then when I asked her "do you want to go again?" she said NO. That was our memorable and funny moment and a little frightened moment for my wife.
           Then we got into cart for riding us down and we reached our parking around 12:45 pm. Around 12:50 pm we started to Splash Country and reached around 1:30 pm.

The water park was fully crowded, as everyone came to enjoy cool water splash in the hot summer. All the lockers were full and after sometime we were able to find one. We first did a big ride in Splash Country named Swift Water Run.After long wait in the line we finally got our chance. We took a dual tube and passed through a huge tunnel which slid us down to the pool with a thud. Then we did another big ride named Big Bear Plunge. It has 4 different water tubes with different colors. We have done two out of the four. These rides were great and it was so much fun. We liked them very much. After that we did two small rides over there. Then we had our lunch around 4:30 pm. we changed our dress, got refreshed and came back to the parking 5:35 pm. We set our GPS route to our cabin but around 5:50 pm on our way we saw Gatlinburg Mountain Coaster. It was looking great and we decided to do that coaster ride. We enjoyed a lot with this ride, It was not a high elevated ride as such but it was a long ride. We had to drive our self in this which made it much more fun. Then we reached parking around 6:15 pm. On our way to the cabin we saw 4 Elks in one ground. We stopped the car took pictures and then returned to car. We reached cabin around 7:53 pm. We had our dinner around 9:30 pm and we slept around 11:30 pm.

     
        The next day morning we woke up around 6:15 am. We were ready by around 7 am and we took some photos of cabin and river. Then we did checkout the cabin around 8:00 am. We started to Gatlinburg. We reached around 9:15 am. We went to Starbucks  had our breakfast around 9:30 am. There were many interesting things around us in that area. So we decided to see some of them. First we went to Ripley's Believe It or Not around 9:45 am. It is like a museum, It is an American franchise founded by Robert Ripley. We saw so many strange and unusual stuff and things in the museum, really it was very interesting.Then we came out from that around 11:10 am. Next we went to Haunted adventure around 11:50 am.It was like walk-in thriller house. After sometime around 11:25 am we went into the Haunted house.

It was very big house decorated with haunted stuff and things. Once you go inside the house was in full dark. It was so scary to my wife. Then around 11:55 am we came out from haunted adventure. After that we went to 5D show around 12:00 pm.The show began around 12:10 am and we came out from 5D show 12:30 am. We were not fully happy with this show because there was no any difference between 4D and 5D. We expected something new in 5D but it was same like 4D. Then around 12:35 pm we started to Cades Cove. On our way to Cades cove we saw 4 pea hens. Then around 1:40 pm we reached Cades Cove.The Cades Cove is like a valley in Great Smoky Mountain National Park which we can view by driving across.Initially we saw 4 horses and then some pea hens, 4 bears and 2 Elks. It was very long loop ride. We were moving very slow to keenly observe the animals. There are no fences at all and it is like a wild life preserve. We liked it, we did not saw many animals over there but we liked it as it felt like a safari. We came out from Cades Cove around 4:00. Had our lunch at pigeon forge around 4:18 pm. After that we wanted to see any attractions or any rides in pigeon forget. There were so many attractions but we did not like them much as we had already done similar rides did not have any interest on these. We then decided to start to home. We started around 4:50 pm to our home. We had our dinner around 7:30 pm. Then we reached our home around 11:30 pm.

    This trip was so much memorable to us. We did rides, saw beauty of nature along with mountains. We liked the cabin very much. This was our first time experience with cabin. In 3 days of our trip we felt the cabin was our home. We did not want to leave the cabin while we were checking out. We could not leave that atmosphere, such a beautiful scenery and all. This trip was a good memory to my wife because she did the rides for the first time. We collected very beautiful memories and completed our trip with so much enjoyment along with playing our favorite songs in car when we are on our journey. All is Well.
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Ottawa - Canada Trip (Part IV)

We woke up around 7:30 am next day. We had our breakfast by 9:00 am and started to Ottawa. It was 4 and half hour drive and again mostly on highway. we reached around 2:10 pm the hotel Fairmont Chateau Lauri-er.

It is near the Parliament hill and one of the prestigious hotels of Canada built in 1903 and opened by then British Queen Elizabeth. The hotel was like a Royal Palace. It was so huge. We checked in the hotel and our room had courtyard view. It takes almost 10 mins to reach to our room from the reception. Room was so beautiful. We then went to Kothu rotti Indian restaurant to have lunch around 4 pm. The Food was delicious. Since we have been to this place on our first day so we now have good idea about the streets and places. Felt little comfortable in roaming the streets.

Around 4:50 pm we decided to go to Pink Lake but when we reached there the lake was closed. We came back to hotel and decided to tour the hotel. Around 7 pm we started exploring the hotel. There were many old paintings of the hotel and the famous VIPs that visited the hotel when it was newly built. We saw the elegant dining rooms, conference rooms, swimming pool, gym centers and various other rooms. There are many tea pots, flower vessels and other decorative items which are lavish and the ceiling has excellent finishings, designs and beautiful chandeliers hanging from the roof. The floors had superb carpets and the lightnings, colors all gave the floors a majestic look. It was so huge that we couldn't cover the entire hotel in a day. We then went to dinner around 9:15 pm to Roast N Curries Indian restaurant. Food was average. We left to hotel room around 10:30 pm and off to bed. Woke up around 7:30 am next day and started to Mint(Royal Canadian Mint) around 9:30 am which was at walking distance from the hotel.

It was not open yet and we decided to come in the afternoon. We went to Starbucks and then decided to go to Gloucester Center in Ottawa. It is like a shopping center with various Countrie's food courts and also has Bulk Barn (whole sale grain market). We had our lunch at Bagan Indian Restaurant around 11:30 am. Food was delicious. Then we started for Rideau canal. It was the canal that passes behind the parliament. we then went to see the Rideau falls around 1:00 pm. It was a lengthy walk and since we parked our car little far off from the falls we almost walked for 40 mins before we reached back to the parking. The falls were not so big, but good enough to do the evening walk around the canal and watch the water. Around 2 pm we again went to Mint. We came to know that there are tours for the Mint and we booked the English tour at 4:00 pm. As it was walking distance from our hotel, we went back to hotel took some rest and came back around 4 pm for the tour. The tour was very good. We saw how the silver and gold coins were minted and how it operates with precession. Also saw various old coins that have been minted for various countries. It was a great experience. The machines used are very expensive and some of the minting machines were only been used here and nowhere else. We came out of Mint around 5 pm and then went to Art Museum which is beside the Mint. It was a huge Museum and it has collection of various paintings and old art styles. It has movie theaters displaying the subtle science in various sounds and light. They have some competition for kids to perform art with given pieces. It was a great museum for art lovers. around 6:30 pm we went to our room. Around 7:30 pm went to Kochin Indian restaurant for dinner. It is 15 mins walk from the hotel. Food was just above average. After dinner we went to our hotel room and dozed off. Next day woke up around 7:00 am and started to Olympic park Montreal, we have not visited the observatory tower and decided to see that as there were not much places to visit as per our plan.

Around 10 am we had our breakfast on our way and 10:55 am we reached the observatory tower. Since we have already been to the Montreal before, we did not had much difficulty in roaming around the place and get near the tower. It was the tallest leaning tower in the world. It was a great experience to be in the tower and go to the top most point. The view of entire park from the top of the tower is amazing. Could see entire Montreal from the tower. We had lunch around 12:55 in the same canteen where we had our lunch before going to planetarium. Around 1:25 pm we started back to Ottawa and went to Gloucester Center and had slight snacks and around 5 pm reached our room. We took some rest and then around 7:30 pm went to Shafali restaurant where we first  our dinner. Food was good. we decided to walk around the hotel and visit the Parliament.

We reached the Parliament building. It was an old castle style building and there are couple other buildings for Government Officials nearby. We came to know that there are tours to visit the parliament and starts from 9 am in the morning. We decided to go to the tour and came back to room and slept. Woke up around 7:30 am next day and got ready and went to see the Parliament around 8:45 am. There was a huge line to take the tour tickets. After 25 mins of Standing in the cold weather we were able to get the tickets and our tour starts at 9:50 am. The ticket counter is in a small building in front of the parliament. We rushed to the entrance of the Parliament.The Parliament building was huge and very beautiful.we saw the great halls inside, we visited the House of commons and Senate where discussions happen by the Elected Representatives.

There was a huge library in the center block and it was astounding. It was built in such a fashion that even when the Parliament building was on fire decades ago, the library was not damaged. It has collection of almost every book including children fantasies to abstract editorial topics. We then went to the top most point of the Parliament tower, from there we can see the Parliament hill, Prime minister residence and all other office buildings of the elected officers. It was great experience being inside the Government building. We then came back to our hotel room around 11:25 am. We checked out around 11:45 am and went to Hindu Temple of Ottawa. There were no cars in the parking lot.

We felt that temple might have been closed. To our surprise it is open and we were the only people inside except for the priest. We took the blessings of the Gods and then we said by to the Great Hotel where we stayed and left to Airport to return the rental car. Our flight time was 7:30 pm. we checked our bags around 1:50 pm and waited to board the flight. After hours of waiting finally our time as come to say good bye to Canada. we boarded the plane. Due to heavy snowfall, our flight was delayed and flight was taken to melt the snow and spray the defrost liquid so that it can be ready for flight. we reached IAD around 9:10 pm and reached home around 10:00 pm. Finally back to sweet home. It was a great memorable experience visiting Canada and enjoyed it thoroughly. All is Well.
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