Lazy Five Ranch

One month ago I had no clue that Mooresville NC was home to a safari/Jurassic parkesque "zoo" called Lazy Five Ranch. Why did no one ever mention this phenomena to me before? Well I have no clue, maybe it's because I didn't have a kid to take there before Maggie and so folks thought why tell her she wouldn't be interested, but mark my words had I known about this place prior to recently I would have been a frequent VIP to this locale. For those of you who, like me, had never heard of this place (until now) I must say that I think it is one of NC's best kept secrets. You have two options at the ranch, one is to drive your own car Jurassic park style through the safari plains of Mooresville and have a close encounter experience with wildlife from your own car or two to take a horse drawn wagon ride through the safari. I recommend the latter, we did and what fun it twas. There is even a petting zoo and play area to enjoy. My words can only describe so much, so feast your eyes on these pics and then set a date on your calendar for your own trip to this Mooresville wonder.
Here we are all loaded in the Garrison's van clueless as to the adventure that awaits us in Mooresville.
This bear was not part of the petting portion of the zoo and for good reason. However, on the other side of the parking lot there were several animals available for petting and viewing.
This picture makes me chuckle because Maggie looks so grown up here eating her PBJ for lunch. She knew she needed to carb up for the exciting journey ahead.

And the group shot on the wagon. This picture also posted to prove that I am not afraid of posting unflattering pictures of myself.

Who looks more excited here? Could it be me because I have a silly grin on my face or the child that refuses to look at the camera for fear that she will miss seeing an exotic animal.
The Garrison clan enjoying the ride and view.
This is just an example of how close we were to these beasts and to show you the viewer how they loved to eat the food from our buckets.
Oh hello there zebra in Mooresville.
The llamas were especially fun to feed, even Maggie did it. Her giggle when the llama licked the feed from her hand made the trip all worth it. And, as we left she waved and said goodbye Mama. She must have read her book is your mama a llama before we came. Before I close out my blog on Lazy Five Ranch, I must describe my most favorite part of the day. While aboard the wagon and meandering through the open Mooresville plains our tour guide tells us that we may just get lucky today and see the ranch's water buffalo give birth. Well, it certainly was our lucky day because just that was happening on our last leg of the journey. Have you ever seen that scene from Ace Ventura pet detective when the fake rhino is giving birth, well my experience with water buffalo births is very similar. There she was laying on the ground and her baby was literally half way in and half the other. The scary part was that she was just sitting there like she was done. We city folk were feeling a little nervous at this point but our tour guide tells us not to worry this could take up to two days! Talk about your national geographic experience. Anywas if that doesn't convince you to visit this cool place I don't know what will.