The Wilds

We have been talking about a trip to The Wilds for years but never managed to make it to Cumberland, Ohio for the visit.  Every year we say that we must make it there the next year but it slips of the radar until they are closed for the season and we missed another year.  We decided that this is time to go. Since this was the last day they would be open for visitors in 2019 we were glad that we made the trip.

Cheetah lounging at The Wilds

The Wilds is a huge expanse of open land built on over 9,000 acres of a reclaimed strip mine site about midway between Pittsburgh and Columbus.  The facility is a collaboration of several agencies including the zoos of Ohio to preserve and manage rare and endangered wildlife in a location that the public can enjoy them in a setting similar to their native habitats.
Because The Wilds is nearly a three hour dive from our small apartment in Huntington we left early and picked up our friend, Tammy Minor, around 6 am.  We enjoyed the drive up chatting and catching up with Tammy.  We had been on this route before on trips to Cleveland and northern Ohio because we remembered the signs for Big Muskie Bucket, one of the world's larget single bucket digging machine ever built and is one of the world's largest mobile earth moving machines.  This surface mining machines, a dragline whose bucket could hold 220 cubic yards of material was in operation at this site from 1969 until 1991.

Przewalski's Horses

We arrived at The Wilds a little before their first tour at 10 am so we took the time to walk around the small but informative visitor center.  Because the weather was very cool on this late October day we warmed up in the buildings before boarding the open air transports that would take us through the park. There is a facility for breeding hellbenders, large aquatic salamanders that are native to the area's streams.  However, that building was being used for a tour by a group of Girl Scouts that day so we were unable to see the hellbenders.

Pere David Deer

The vehicles appeared to be retired school buses that had been modified for sightseeing trips with sides cut away allowing better views of the wildlife.  We bundled up knowing that the trip would be cool.  Our vehicle was fairly full with people of a variety of ages but there was plenty of room to move about to get snapshots of the animals.
One of our first stops was at the rare Pere David's Deer that were rescued from almost certain extinction and are now thriving in US zoos.  From there we drove through many other types of deer and exotic hooved animals.  Perhaps the highlight of the trip was an unexpected roadblock by a group of Bactrian camels.   These are not the one humped Dromedary camels of the Middle East but are the two humped camels of Central Asia.  These giants appeared to just want to scratch and rub on the side of the vehicle even managing to rip one of the outside mirrors loose.  Our guide eventually called for the wildlife specialists to come lure the camels away from the bus with buckets of food.  The treats seemed to work and we continued our trip around the facility.

Camels blocking the tour bus

Other memorable animals that we saw included cheetahs, zebras, ostrich, Przewalski's horse and many varieties of deer and antelope.  In all the trip took nearly two hours, bringing us back to the visitor center at noon.  We took our packed lunches to a place to eat outside since the warm sunshine felt good on the cool autumn day.  We watched other visitors taking zipline tours of the area but we felt that it would be better to try that on a warmer day.
After walking around the grounds for a while we departed for home having enjoyed the day and promising to come back in spring on early fall when we could see different animals out on a warmer day.  

Eiteljorg Museum and Indianapolis Zoo

We awoke at the Sleep Inn around 6 am after sleeping well.  We watched the morning news and went down to the lobby for a nice breakfast.  After a shower and answering some email, we left for the Eiteljorg Museum of American Indians and Western Art which is next to the Indiana State Museum and along the canal.  We saw paintings and sculptures by western artists like Fredric Remington, C. M. Russell, Georgia O’Keefe and many others.  A room featured work by many contemporary western artists as well.  Upstairs we saw art by native people from antiquity as well as items produced by modern native artists.  There were several items from Maria and Julian Martinez of the San Ildefonso Pueblo near Santa Fe.  

I also saw several pots in the Mesa Verde patterns that I liked a lot.  Both of us saw a number of items that we liked and spent about three hours there.  We were also pleased that we received a AAA discount that took the $12 admission down to $10.  They also validated our parking pass which was worth $12 so our visit there was quite a bargain. 

After leaving the museum we went to the car in the underground parking garage below the museum and had a snack lunch of peanut butter and crackers that we had packed from home.  After our snack, we walked the short distance across the canal to the Indianapolis Zoo. 

When we checked in at the zoo we were told that our Cincinnati Zoo membership would get us a discount but the admission we were charged didn’t seem to reflect a discount.  Since the money was going to the zoo we didn’t protest.  We walked around the zoo for over three hours and really enjoyed the displays.  Although the zoo isn’t large, the animals are very well displayed.  Perhaps the Indianapolis Zoo’s feature animals are the orangutans.  They had six orangutans on display of all ages.  They seemed to enjoy their enclosure and entertained the human visitors.

The rhino’s exhibit was also very nice with three adult white rhinos.  While we were there two of the rhinos had an altercation and butted heads right in front of us.  The giraffe exhibit had three adult giraffes that were easy to see.  They had a polar bear, brown bears, a red panda and a number of African plains animals.  We stayed in the zoo until nearly 4:30 before walked the short distance to the White River Gardens and Hilbert Conservatory.  Although much of the growing season is over, there were many plants still in the gardens and conservatory.  We wished that more of the plants had identification labels but the gardens were very worth visiting and the admission is included in the zoo admission.

By 5 pm, we were very tired and ready to rest a bit before looking for a dinner spot so we walked back to the parking garage under the museums and made our way back to the Sleep Inn.  We expected traffic to be really heavy since we were leaving the museums at the height of rush hour.  However, we had little trouble making our way back the short distance to the motel.

After a short rest, we decided on a local drive-in, Mug-n-Bun, that has been in Indianapolis since 1960 serving the local favorite pork tenderloin sandwiches as well as other diner food choices.  We first heard about Mug-n-Bun from the Roadfood segment on NPR’s Splendid Table.  You can eat in your car or at a table under a shelter there so we got a table and ordered pork tenderloin sandwiches and onion rings with homemade root beer to drink.  Neither of us could finish our meals although they were very good. 

After leaving Mug-n-Bun we drove past the Indianapolis Motor Speedway on the way back to the motel.  It was a very good day.  We are tired since we were on our feet all day but we enjoyed everything we saw and did today.

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Christmas 2013 at the Columbus Zoo

It had been several years since we had been to the Columbus Zoo at Christmas time.  When I taught AP Biology at Cabell Midland High School we took a class trip there every year.  We typically went on the Saturday after Thanksgiving.  We would charter a coach and leave the school at 8 am which would put us at the zoo around 11 am.  We would eat a brownbag lunch and get behind-the-scenes tours at several of the exhibits.  We would have enough daylight to see the animals and since the weather was cool, many of the animals were much more active than in warmer weather.  As the evening approached the Christmas lights would come up.  Carolers and Dickens characters would walk around the zoo grounds to entertain guests.  There would be an ice skating rink, roasting nuts warm cider and hot chocolate.  It was an excellent class trip.

Today it was only Mary and I for the trip.  We left home at 8 am and drove to Columbus through Portsmouth, Chillicothe and Circleville.  We went to Juergen’s German Bakery and Restaurant in Columbus’ German Village for lunch.  It is a small family owned restaurant, bakery and German store in an old building on 4^th Street.  There were only a few tables but people came and went there the whole time we were there.  Most of the staff at Juergen’s was from Germany and chatted with us in German, at least as much as we could.  Mary had a Kase Schnitzel with is a pan fried veal cutlet covered with melted cheese.  My Jeager Schnitzel was covered in mushroom gravy.  We both had a generous serving of Spaetzel and an assortment of breads made fresh on the premises.  Before we left, we bought a huge coconut macaroon that was moist and delicious, a Bavarian cream dessert, a slice of Lebkuchen (gingerbread) and some anise cookies.  It was all quite good.

We arrived at the Columbus Zoo around 12:30 and used our Cincinnati Zoo membership to get a 50% discount on admission.  When we arrived we were concerned that the wind might make the trip too cold but once we got inside the zoo there was little wind.  

The temperatures got to the low 60s with lots of sunshine which is great for Columbus in late December.  The North America exhibits included bears, wolves, bison, pronghorns, moose, cougars, bobcats and swans.
From there, we walked through the Asia and Africa exhibits.  We were especially entertained by the Langur monkeys.  One monkey was especially mischievous and spent the time we were there harassing and tormenting the other Langurs.  Mary said that monkey reminded her of me.  I can’t imagine why!

Of course, we had to go see the red pandas.  They were up in one of the trees in their exhibit and took time to playfully romp for us.  We enjoyed the exhibits of African lions, black rhinos, Humbolt penguins and koalas before checking some of the exhibits in buildings as the light dimmed.  The reptile house is always good and has well displayed specimens of a nice variety of reptiles and amphibians.  

We ended our visit at the aquarium.  Since the room was warm, we nodded off as we watched the variety of fish in the huge tank.  When the room started to fill with people we moved on and made our way to the zoo exit.  As we were leaving there were many people coming in to the zoo for the evening’s light shows.  As the zoo was getting crowded, we were happy to be leaving.

We drove around I-270 back to Rt. 23 South and drove to Chillicothe where we picked up Rt. 35.  We stopped for dinner in Rio Grande, Ohio at the Bob EvansRestaurant.  This restaurant is on the grounds of Bob Evans Farms and is at the site of the original Bob Evans which was built in 1946.  We both enjoyed our salads and started back home.  We arrived at the house at 9 pm and turned in after doing a little reading.  We had a really nice day and are looking forward to going back to the Columbus Zoo in warmer weather when some of the less cold tolerant animals will be on display and active.

  

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Cincinnati Zoo & Krohn Conservatory

Rex, Natalie & Mary near the gorilla exhibit

We picked up our friends, Rex & Natalie Dillinger at 7 am to make the short drive to Cincinnati for a day trip. We arrived at the Cincinnati Zoo at 10 am for their opening for the day. There had been some mists of rain on the trip down but nothing to cause us to change our plans. 

Three toed sloth

The zoo was excellent as always. Since the weather was much cooler than it had been previously, many of the animals were more active. Each of us had our favorite animal exhibits whether the gorillas, tigers, manatees or Mary's red pandas. Neither of us had seen the new Africa exhibit which was very impressive.  When there was a popup shower we visited exhibits in one of the buildings.

Orangutan

We were fortunate to have cooperative weather until we were hit with a cloudburst around 2:30 as we were leaving the zoo and walking to the car.

Steve & Mary at the waterfall near the gorillas

We had a snack in the car as we drove to the Krohn Conservatory. By the time we arrived the rain had passed. In additional to the permanent displays of tropical plants, bonsai, orchids, cacti and succulents, there was an exhibit of aquaponics, aeroponics and hydroponics. Plants were raised in vertical gardens and in tower gardens where growing conditions were optimized in minimal space. It was an interesting and informative exhibit.  
We stopped in the Krohn's gift shop where we purchased some small houseplants and unique gifts for friends and family.
By the time we left the conservatory we were all hungry so we called Greg to drop off some items that Sarah wanted to use for an upcoming social engagement at her house.  Since Greg was available he joined us for dinner.  Since we all love barbecue, Walt's Barbecue seemed like a good choice.  Dillingers treated us to smoked turkey, pulled pork and, best of all, sliced brisket.  For sides, we had fried okra and some of the best beans you will ever taste.  The meal was excellent but we all ate far too much.
To walk off our dinner, we drove north to Jungle Jim's International Market where we picked up a few things from the German, Chinese and British sections.  Jungle Jim's is always an adventure.  We started home on I-71 and made a quick stop by the Party Source in Newport, Kentucky.  The quick stop turned out to take much longer than we anticipated since road construction closed the exit of I-471 at Newport so we had to take a longer route than we planned.
Once back on the road, we picked up the AA Highway and made our way home.  There was steady rain the whole trip back that was heavy at times but traffic was light and we entertained ourselves with conversation from the day's sights.
We will look forward to coming back to Cincinnati for Oktoberfest Zinzinnati on the third weekend in September.


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