On The Road Again.....

Well folks, we've been in North Carolina for a month now with two highlights to report.. (1) my Daughter's wedding (see previous post) to Jeff and (2) the North Carolina Zoo at Ashboro.

The zoo is one of the "open range" types and consists of two "continents" - North America and Africa. There are a total of 5 or 6 miles of pathways in the 500 acre park. They really did it well for the animals - if they prefer not being gawked at by people animals, they spend their time as far away from the viewing decks as they can. And that could be 1/4 mile away or more. This is the only "open range" zoo I have ever been too and although most of the animals were a good distance from the viewing areas, I really think the animals were far more impressive that those you see in "a caged in" zoo. We shall visit other zoos' of this type as we work ourselves around the country.


A really "cool" exhibit in North America was the polar bear pool and that's the only picture on that continent I took where you can actually discern what animal was being photographed.


The giraffe exhibit in Africa was a bit more confined which made getting pictures a little easier. Good for the people animals but not so good for the giraffes. I think there were a total of four giraffes in the exhibit. They are just as goofy looking up close as they are on TV.


The elephants have a huge pasture to roam in. A drinking water pond was built right up against the viewing deck so the elephants spent a considerable amount of time within camera range. There were a few elephants way off in the distance - I got the impression they were "at home" there.

I'd never viewed a behavior they exhibited... there was a pile of really dry looking hay on the dirt pathway you see in the pictures. The elephants would scoop up a pile and carry it to the pool - you can see the pile to the left of the elephant. They would eat some right there at the shoreline and then get a drink.

Other than those shown, we saw perhaps a dozen or so other animals but these were the only "closeups" we could get a picture of. Bottom line to the zoo is... if you happen to be in the Ashboro area, take a day to visit it.

Last fall as we drove South out of Maine, the fall foliage was chasing us. Now we are on our way back up to Maine and we will be chasing the Spring foliage. From here its an overnight er in PA, a few days in my hometown of Pittsfield, MA to visit family, up to NH for a little warranty work on the trailer and finally, on May 1, we will arrive in Trenton Maine which is just on the other side of the bridge from Bar Harbor. this is where we will be until the end of October. BEWARE LOBSTERS!

http://www.barharborcampingresorts.com/content/4004/NARROWS_TOO/

Meet The Staffords....

Introducing "The Staffords".... l-r .... Nick, Haylee, Cariann, Pastor (who's name I have forgotten), Jeff, Mackensie, Ethan. How about this for a family! This was probably the nicest wedding I have ever been to. Informal, casual, relaxed - you pick the word, that's what it was. All I can say is that it was a Christian affair and if you want more specific than that, afraid I can't help. Cariann didn't stop smiling the whole day and is probably still smiling today. Perhaps it's just that I am her Dad, but she has the prettiest smile I have ever seen - perhaps it's Jeff that has put the glow in it. The Pastor obviously knows Jeff and Cari well as he made numerous mentions of how Jeff feels about Cari. He was using words like "gaa-gaa over her" and "head over heels for him".

After the "I do's", the whole family participated in "The Sands Ceremony". Each member had a small vessel of lightly colored sand. They took turns pouring their sand into a single larger vessel.

When done, the smaller ones were empty and the single larger one was full to the brim. I had never seen this ceremony and as they poured their sands, the Pastor beautifully told the story of the sands. I will leave the symbolism to your imagination and would bet that it is very accurate. Simply beautiful.

The blog site limits pictures to five so I will end it with the traditional cutting of the cake. By the way, the cake was made by my youngest daughter, Sandra or "Sammy" as only I am allowed to call her. The bride and groom atop the cake were made of "leggos" by Ethan who has quite a collection of leggos.

I wanted to include a picture of a leggo recreation of a Starbucks Coffee Shop that Ethan did - Cari is addicted to Starbucks coffee. Hummmm... maybe that is another reason for the smile.

So to wrap this rather brief accounting of the wedding up, it was great meeting the Stafford clan and Jeff, Mackensie and Ethan... Welcome to the "Sacchetti" family!