2013 Family Vacation -- Eureka Springs: Promised Land Zoo

When my parents took me to Eureka Springs the last time in 2006, we visited this sweet little drive-through zoo, The Promised Land Zoo. I was ecstatic to see it was still up and running and that we would get to take the girls. What an adventure it was, too. Some of the animals were quite friendly and had no shame when it came to sticking their heads right in the car to get some food. AB handled it quite well, and had almost no fear.

The deer were the most friendly and had no shame. They would push each other out of the way to get something to eat. I first made the mistake of having my window rolled all the way down, which only resulted big noses and sometimes antlers in our car. So, I ended up having to roll the windows up a bit.

AB loved feeding them and I was impressed with how gently they took the food. No missing fingers for this three year old!

They cracked me up how they would go around to Austin's side of the car, too. Even when his window wasn't rolled down, they thought they'd try and see what they could get out of it. It worked.

One of mine and AB's favorite books is Edward the Emu. We read it almost weekly and I love how the Emu is depicted in the story. Yeah. Whoever wrote that book hasn't ever met an Emu in real life I don't think. They're quite intimidating. These guys would walk right up to the car, and I'm pretty sure would peck our hands off if I hadn't kept the window rolled up. No fear, these guys. But they're smart and their mannerisms are hilarious.

Not all animals were able to roam freely, of course. But we had a wonderful glimpse of the zebras, kangaroos, peacocks, antelopes, and a bobcat.Very neat!

Oh, the camels were my absolute favorite. What friendly animals they were. I figured out that the reason they're fenced in is because they're a little too friendly. They would've come in the car had they not been behind the fence.

Five second after this picture was taken, this camel reached his long neck over the fence and put his whole head in the car!!!

Oh, this place was gorgeous! Absolutely beautiful. The rolling hills and green grass just made it so picturesque. All of these animals were rescued from their environment, and it made me happy to see how well they were being taken care of.

Oh, the Emus. This guy had his own little "station" set up. He would wait for the cars to come through the end of the tour where no other animals were - smart. And this worked well for him. He got fed. I fell for it.

This is the face of one happy girl feeding the animals. 

At the end of the drive, we could get out and go to the petting zoo. Lots of fun things to see and pet here. AB had her first experience with guinea pigs. If you know anything about my guinea pig experience, growing up, I told her to take a good look now, because we would NEVER own one!

She even got to pet a baby alligator!

The petting zoo had a baby camel, Jenny. It moaned and groaned at us when we would walk away or we didn't feed her. The zoo keeper said she was just grouchy.

Seriously. I want a camel.

I think this was the funnest part of the trip. We had such a fun time being with the animals and feeding them. Both girls enjoyed it! So did Momma and Daddy.