Aug 9: Warrenton

Jacob and I took a quick detour today on the way to the CYIA picnic at CEF headquarters. I had recently discovered that there was a new cake in Warrenton. I looked it up to see how close it was to CEF. When I discovered it was only 5 minutes, I one we had to go. Unfortunately, Alex couldn't come because she had to be back to soon for her play. And Jessica didn't go either. So we will have to go back again. It was fun to go exploring with Jacob though. I am not much into the selfie craze but attempted one today.

Warren County Courthouse

I didn't get to stay long at the picnic because I wanted to get back to see the play but I got to stay long enough to eat and hear the testimonies and compare cake stories with Maggie. 

The CEF headquarters is a pretty neat campus. 

Aug 1: Wolves, Elk and Birds Oh My! (Oh and little dogs too!)

Today was a very full and long day of cake hunting. But, it was a very fun day. A day that Alex has been anticipating for a long time. It was wolf day! As soon as she found out that the Wolf Center had a cake she wanted to go. But, we had to wait till breeding season was over. Then we had to wait until we all had time for a day trip down south. Today was the day. Another day that we gained because we were not able to go to NC, but John still had the day off. Thanks to modern medicine and a little (ok BIG pill) I was able to handle the day on the road. 

We had a plan to hit 10 cakes today and made it to 6. Mostly because we spent so much time at the cakes that we did visit. Also because it began to rain and we were wearing down. We will just have to circle back and get those cakes another day. But Alex did get to see her wolves!

1st Stop:

Endangered Wolf Center

We had a 9:30 reservation for the PredaTour. We got there a little early and took a picture at the cake which is outside the gates. Managed to scan a Munzee while we waited as well! 

Endangered Wolf Center

 Alex is excited!

 We started out in an old WW2 bunker turned educational center/gift shop, learning about the wolves we would see. 

Coyote

Mexican grey wolf

Back of Bunker

Then we moved out to see the wolves in their enclosures. The animals at this center are endangered. We learned about the careful process they go through to breed the animals and then introduce them back into the wild. Those they can, that is. The African Wild Dog and the Maned Wolf are not able to be released because their natural habitat is in countries that do not have release programs. 

African Painted Dog aka African Wild Dog

Maned Wolf
This wolf is not an actual wolf. It's gate, eating habits, etc make it different than the real wolves.

Maned Wolf

Mexican Grey Wolf

Apparently the Maned Wolves will eat butterflies. I hope this one stays on our side of the fence!

Passing by some of the Tyson buildings that are also leftovers from the WW2 era. Men would come to these buildings to get their assignments for the day. Apparently weapon building. 

We also so seven cute little foxes. They were fun to watch. They apparently were very interested in watching the wolves in the next enclosure. They had to have a tarp put up on the fence of their main area as the daddy fox used to get very anxious seeing wolves so close to his babies!

2nd Stop:

Lone Elk Park

Our second stop is a family favorite. We have enjoyed coming here to see the animals, picnic and hike. We were amazed to discover that the wolves have been next door all those years! 

Lone Elk Park

Nice view of the pond from the cake. 

 We took a break for lunch. John put good use to his father's day present. A nice cooler/grill set. (The black bag on the table.) We've always had a picnic basket packed and ready for impromptu picnics, but this grill set was a nice addition.

Using his father's day present.

Grilling up hamburgers. (Veggie burger for me.)

Waiting for hamburgers

It was a great day for seeing the animals. Just beyond the picnic area, we came across a herd of bison. 

 Bison

We also saw some turkey and hoped that they did not find their way into the red wolf enclosure next door! We hear that quite a few turkey have wandered in there and not made it back out! Just as we got to the exit of the park, we came across two Elk very close to the road.

3rd Stop:

World Bird Sanctuary

Just outside Lone Elk Park is the World Bird Sanctuary. We stopped in there for our next cake adventure. 

World Bird Sanctuary

We discovered that there was a Wherigo adventure the bird sanctuary and we decided to play it. We didn't end up finishing the cartridge or finding the cache, but we enjoyed the app because it directed us to a part of the sanctuary that we had never seen on previous visits. 

The first stop on the Wherigo was this big nest.

Then it took us to the birds of prey. Here Alex has my phone to see what our next assignment is. 

Our next assignment was in the Nature Center where we found this bat, some parrots, an armadillo and some snakes!

 

The next stop was the hospital where Alex and Jessica got locked in the Dodo cage!

We found this Pelican as we walked the path behind the hospital. An area that was new to us. 

The touch table. 

4th Stop: 

Six Flags

Just down the highway, we find our next stop. No time, money or energy to explore this area. It was nice to have John along to go through the drop off lanes for a quick park and grab cake!

Six Flags

5th Stop:

Shaw Nature Reserve

Shaw Nature Reserve

We loved the detail on this cake. We were not allowed to lean on this cake because of all the fragile details on it, but we sure enjoyed looking at it and discovering all the little creatures. 

 

 

6th Stop:

Purina Farms

Our last stop of the day brought us to a place that we have taken the kids before, but they were too little to remember. Alex and I decided that we need to have a " Teen Field Trip group to visit places we saw as preschoolers." When the kids were in preschool, I ran a homeschool field trip group for preschoolers and we went to so many cool places that they don't remember any more. These cake adventures have been neat in that we have revisited many of those places. 

We arrived at Purina Farms just in time to take in an Dog Agility Show. It was sprinkling by this time, but we didn't care. The show was very fun to watch. 

Purina Farms

I put on a pot of turkey chili before we left so when we dragged in nine hours after our adventure started, it was nice to have supper already waiting for us.