Corona Virus Quarantine Day #352: Out of Africa Zoo Craziness: Friday, March 12, 2021:

So the Dorsey’s are in Arizona. We escaped Kansas to spend some quality time together in warmer weather…except so far, the warmer weather part hasn’t been a thing.

Upon our arrival we had our first In and Out burger experience (I don’t get it but oh well) and the kids immediately wanted to go swimming. It was just about 60 degrees and I believe them to be insane but nevertheless, they swam and had a blast.

In and out burger and the arrival at our hotel. Swimming for the win!

This child does not feel cold. Ever. It’s amazing. He has no fear and loves swimming more than any person I know.

We returned to our room to eat and sleep in prep for our first trip into the Arizona mountains to go to one of the coolest zoos I’ve ever seen.

Out of Africa zoo is unlike any zoo I’ve ever been to for many different reasons. First they have more predatory animals than any other zoo I’ve ever been to. Second, your opportunity to interact with the people who care for the animals is pretty incredible. Finally, you can actually feed these animals and watch their keepers do the same. It was crazy.

They have hyenas that laugh and birds that talk and a sloth you can hold and tigers who swim and lions who are so close we could reach across a fence and touch them.

We loved it.

Aside from the insane weather we experienced. It was just below 50 degrees, which if the sun is shining is not big thing. However, the sun wasn’t shining and at one point it was raining and also hailing on us (while on an African safari). It was special.

I can honestly say it may have been the coldest I’ve ever been. I had no feeling in my feet or hands. We were all soaking wet from the safari so that just made the wind and cold air all the more spectacular. But, we had set out to have an adventure and that we did. The cold weather was combatted by a trip to the car to blast the heat and attempt to dry out clothes and some hot chocolate for the big win.

Even after freezing our collective rears off we decided to brave the zoo a second time so we could feed a tiger and watch the zookeepers feed all the predatory animals. I’m so glad we did! It was so amazing.

Here are so highlights from the zoo experience. If you are ever in Arizona I highly recommend it. Even though the rain and cold eliminated some of the experiences we could have had otherwise, we all really had an awesome time.

Heading into the mountains for our zoo adventure.

It was crazy how close you could get to the animals. The zoo keepers actually go in there with these lions and tigers. It’s wild. I’m pretty sure that one lion thought Fletcher was dinner.

This man fed these lions and tigers with his hand. They were actually happy to see him. It was crazy.

Watch these lions get excited to see their zookeeper. It blew my mind.

The panther was the most beautiful creature we saw.

The kids feeding a tiger Ezekial! What a cool experience that was.

Adam our tour guide feeding the cougar. It was amazing how much these predatory cats loved their handlers. Poor guy was being rained on and then it started to hail on his face.

The tigers were so beautiful and hungry. Very, very hungry. It was feeding day so we actually got to see the zookeepers throw dead turkeys over their fences.

This turkey took a few tries to get over. When it got stuck on the top it appeared the lion was going to start jumping for it and it was kinda scary. I learned that the cats only eat a feast like this every 3 days, so that lion really wanted that turkey. It was pretty cool to see feeding time.

The hyenas. Wow. Aside from the fact that I’m pretty sure they wanted to eat us…the noses they made were crazy Incredible. The hyenas laugh was so cool!

We even got the hyenas to make their mooing sound. But again, I’m 100% sure they wanted to eat our children. If you watch closely one of them licks their lips. Creepy animals…that apparently have the strongest bite force of any animal so that’s fun.

After the zoo experience we headed back to Phoenix for a seafood extravaganza because it’s Friday and Lent. The kids wanted to try crab so this became part two of our adventure. It was a total blast. We went to a place called the Angry Crab where you can write on the walls and they literally put a pot of food in front of you and we got to eat with our hands. The kids got to try lobster, crab and shrimp (they’ve had that before), fried alligator and fried shrimp and hush puppies.

I’d say the triplets were a bigger fan than our younger two…Fletcher ate Mac and cheese…but they all tried something new, which was a prerequisite for this adventure. Finely, Cooper and Ellen loved the crab most. Finley also really enjoyed the fried shrimp and Ellen and Cooper fought over the fried alligator, which really surprised me. Fiona liked the crab and shrimp but I think in general found the whole eating with your hands and having to work to eat your food underwhelming.