A Drive-Through Zoo?!? (and other fun NWA weekend activities)

Greetings! Want a weekend update? Good, ‘cause that’s what you’re getting. As I mentioned last week, two of my very best friends came to visit this weekend – Kevin and Vicky Henderson. Kevin graduated from Walton, too (or is almost there…he should be defending his dissertation in the next few weeks!). After he “graduated,” he took a job in Minnesota, and so he and Vicky don’t get to come see us very often anymore. Which means, naturally, that when they are here, we have to get as much Fayetteville in as possible. Well, that’s exactly what we did this weekend.

They got here Thursday evening and we had dinner and Orange Mango (a new frozen yogurt place on Dickson Street – it’s wonderful). They were pretty tired from their 9.5 hour drive, so that’s about all we did that night.

I had to work on Friday morning, but for lunch we had Taste of Thai (another one of my favorite restaurants in town), checked out the absolute adorableness that is Riffraff (a store on the square owned by a fellow U of A grad), and had cupcakes at Bliss. I had a lavender honey flavored cupcake and it was SO yummy – just the perfect hint of floral with this lovely, light honey-ish icing. Vicky had a chocolate-maple cupcake, and yes, that is bacon on top of it. It actually wasn't as weird as we expected it to be.

 Next, we stopped by the U of A bookstore. They have just opened a new location in the Garland Center (our new parking deck on campus), and it’s incredible. I know I’m using lots of “happy” adjectives today, but really, look at this place! There’s even a computer store (with Apple Genius support which is nice since the closest Apple store is in Tulsa), a coffee bar, and a Clinique counter!

 The best part of the weekend, though, might have been Saturday. We decided to drive to Gentry (yeah, I didn’t know where it was either) to visit the drive-through zoo (called the Wild Wilderness Drive-Through Safari). Okay, so, to be honest, when I heard “drive-through zoo” and “Gentry, AR” I figured it would be like a loop around a few acres where you might get lucky enough to see a few cows/deer/buffalo, maybe a camel or two. Well, I was wrong. Here’s a short list of some of the animals we saw: kangaroos, zebras, antelopes, giraffes, tigers, lions, bears (go ahead, say it, you know you want to…), baboons, hippos, crocodiles, rhinos, etc. The drive around the park took about an hour and a half. We would have to stop occasionally to let a camel/buffalo/deer/goose/zebra cross the road, and more than once we had emus walk up to the car and peck at our windows. Admittedly, there WERE cows, deer, and buffalo, so I wasn’t totally wrong.

 There was also a “petting zoo” type of area, but once again, not the kind you would expect to find in Arkansas. We petted kangaroos and held (and were bounced on by) capuchin monkeys (one named Chloe stole my hair clippie…I was not happy), baby baboons, a teeny-tiny, precious ring-tailed lemur, and two of the sweetest lion cubs ever. I could have stood in that corral and cuddled that cub for hours.

Oh, it was SO much fun. I would go back again and again. The entrance fee is only $10 and you can stay for as long as you like. And Gentry is only about 45 min from Fayetteville, so it’s an easy Saturday trip. I’d recommend it to anyone, no matter how old.

Despite our full day, we ended up going to a movie that night (it’s a Kevin and Vicky tradition). We saw The Other Guys. I’m actually not sure if I liked it…I laughed a lot…so maybe? It was…different.

Anyway, Sunday was very laid back. We had lunch, hung out at the house, and had dinner at Grub’s (a Fayetteville classic). Monday was slower, too. I had to work, so Kevin and Vicky spent the day running around town, seeing other old friends and doing errands. We met up after work at Rick’s Bakery (Vicky used to work there and it’s one of our favorite places to sit and talk) and had dinner that evening at Powerhouse (yet another Fayetteville classic). We spent the rest of the evening back at the house, dreading the fact that Kevin and Vicky had to leave the next day.

I also had to finish my internship reports – they aren’t perfect, but they ARE just drafts, so I can perfect the final version to my heart’s content. Once I have those results a little more nailed down, I share details on them, too.

Kevin and Vicky headed back north yesterday morning (sad day). We did get to have breakfast at Rick’s before they left, though, so that was nice. Now it’s back to the routine work week – reports, analysis, meetings, etc. I’m participating in something (potentially) fun today. I’ll let you know how it goes!