The giraffes had space both indoors and outdoors. In the mornings, you’ll find them where the food is.
If you read Part 10 and Part 11, you saw a lot of me nattering on about the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo, that fabulous nature spot with animal pens up the side of a mountain, but not so much about the zoo animals beyond the meerkats. This, then, is the one with a bunch of other animals in it.
It’s the kind of moment a man hears can happen, but never sees coming. He’s walking around by himself, minding his own business, lonesome in a crowd but trying to keep up his spirits. Then out of nowhere a young lady walks up to him without preamble or any sign of hesitation, stares him down point-blank, and hits him up with the kind of once-in-a-lifetime proposition he’d have to be a fool to refuse:
“Hi! Would you like to help feed the meerkats?”
Fans of Dr. Strangelove, Stargate SG-1, WarGames, and numerous other near-apocalyptic dramas may recognize the location. No, I don’t mean the zoo.
Welcome to Cheyenne Mountain! One of the most distinctive sections of the Rocky Mountains in the Colorado Springs area, this mass was once home base for the North American Aerospace Defense Command. If you saw a movie or TV show in the ’80s or ’90s in which grouchy American military officials glowered at each other in a secret underground bunker and tossed around terms like “mutually assured destruction” or “DEFCON 1” or “the football” or “Russkies”, chances are they were filmed in a sterile Hollywood soundstage but fronted by a stock photo of thick, beautiful Cheyenne Mountain.
NORAD isn’t quite the hotbed of top-secret nuclear management it once was, having transferred its primary functions to nearby Peterson Air Force Base. (No public tours. I checked.) Today it’s a mountain with a lot going on around its base, not much of it related to national security anymore.
Right this way for another round of scenery and guaranteed animals!
“Yep, that’s right. I’m a llama. You know you love me!”
For those just joining the internet today: hearts and minds across America were swept away by the spellbinding spectacle of a pair of lively llamas on the loose in Phoenix who apparently came from nowhere, took a while to run down, and by the end of their escapade had become the heartily hailed heroes of a thousand news sites that were bored with covering the whole “net neutrality” thing. Internet freedom was out; llama freedom was in.
I may have missed out on today’s llama craze, but I’m okay with that. This wouldn’t have been my first llama rodeo. Our family has encountered these affable animals on two of our previous road trips. Those Arizona lawmen may have struggled to keep up with their quarry, but it’s been our experience that llamas aren’t that hard to catch if you go meet them where they like to hang out.
[The very special miniseries continues! See Part One for the official intro and context.]
Day 4: Tuesday, July 25th
Our hotel in Bloomington rewarded us with the largest breakfast buffet of the whole trip. The offerings weren’t all that different, with the notable exception of a positively luxurious three waffle-makers. Their buffet was much more spread out and streamlined, rather than crammed into a leftover nook like those of the previous hotels. Although they offered three times as many tables and chairs as we were used to, they were also just as crowded as the pool had been the previous night.
Once we were tanked up on too much sugar — I know I was, at least — we drove due south to Apple Valley, home of the Minnesota Zoo. This part was a concession on behalf of my son, the wildlife lover. We always schedule one vacation stop for his appeasement, though a zoo was a welcome change of pace from the ride-alike amusement parks of previous years. (Fun opinion I wish I didn’t hold: Six Flags parks are as interchangeable as McDonald’s franchises.)
Lakes and birdies, hand in hand: Minnesota’s nature scene in a nutshell.
Midlife Crisis Crossover! 