Day 8

Kay and I hadn't been the the zoo here for several years. A new gorilla habitat had been built since our last visit. We stopped by Jim and Donna's place to gather a group to go to the Sedgwick County Zoo.

It was a hot day to be walking around the zoo. Normally I need to do something physical to work up a sweat. At the zoo, all it took was for me to stand still in the shade and breathe. What I'm trying to say is it was HOT!!!

The first critters we saw were flamingos wading or standing in a shallow pond with colorful koi swimming around among the legs. Many of the birds were sleeping while standing on one leg. Kay made the observation that when the birds were motionless, they looked as if they were made of plastic.

The flamingos seemed to be taking the heat in stride

We continued on and came across a family of wild geese sitting on the grass in the shade of a large tree. These appeared to be wild birds that found a good place to raise their family among the zoo animals. There was an adult male and female along with four half-grown goslings.

Next we entered the rain forest building which made the outdoors feel almost comfortable. The relative humidity was very close to 100%. Birds were flying overhead and occasionally flew right down in front of us. I spotted a pair of very brightly colored macaws with plumage in red, yellow, green and blue.

These macaws are very colorful birds

Overhead we saw a small group of BIG bats hanging from the tree branches. The bats are called African flying foxes. They appeared to be sleeping during the daytime. Even though they were sleeping, it was interesting to see these creatures so close.

Just a few of African flying foxes hanging from the tree branches

I was very happy to get out of the rain forest. The outside air felt quite tolerable ... for about three seconds, then wham, the heat hit me once again. Our next stop would be the bear habitat. This zoo has done a good job of giving the bears a natural setting while giving the zoo visitor the feeling of being very close to these powerful animals. We all noticed the very long claws on the bear that appeared close to us.

This bear seemed as if he could just step down to our observation area

Our next point of interest was the new gorilla habitat. This is a really nice area for the gorillas to live almost as if they are in the wild. Well... if you don't count all the humans watching from the other side of a glass wall. The grounds are set up in such a way that beyond the viewing area, the landscape rises to a hill that hides the other side of the area, giving the appearance that the animals are in the open.

After our visit to the zoo, Kay and I returned to our COOOOOL motorhome. I really, really appreciate air conditioning. We just took it easy for a while to cool down from our zoo trip.

Our next activity was to go out to eat at a very interesting place called the Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper. This place is located on a working cattle ranch that is northeast of Wichita. On the grounds is the Hopalong Cassidy Cowboy Museum and Theatre, the Prairie Rose Opra House, the Happy Trails Theater and many other attractions that all feature the cowboy way of life

As I understand it, this operation is a function of Restoration Farms, Inc. This is a company that works with farmers and ranchers to find ways — sometimes unusual ways — for farmers to make a living and stay on their farms. The Prairie Rose Chuckwagon Supper is just such an enterprise. The barbeque dinners use beef from the working ranch, thus providing a steady customer for its own beef.

One of the main attractions is the Hopalong Cassidy Cowboy Museum and Theater. This is THE official Hopalong Cassidy museum. A brief look inside brought up a lot of memories from my childhood. The Hopalong Cassidy Theater runs fun, old Hopalong Cassidy movies continuously.

The Prairie Rose Opra House is where we would have our meal followed by a show put on by the Prairie Rose Wranglers. On the other side of the opra house is the Happy Trails Theater where old Roy Rogers movies can be viewed. Other attractions are the Prairie Rose Express Train, the Kansas Indian Village and the "Wagons HO" RV Park.

Some in our group is taking it easy before the dinner bell rings

We had a delightful evening eating a very good meal featuring barbecue beef with all the trimmings. We were seated at picnic tables inside the opry house. The tables were covered with gingham table clothes. Reservations have to be made 24 hours in advance so table assignments can be made. We would learn where we would be seated only when we arrived for our meal. We had a good location at one end of the stage.

The food was served by men dressed like movie cowboys. Later we would find out the the servers were the same guys that would entertain us on the stage. Just as the place we sat was predetermined, so was the menu. The food was basic American western fare which included different cuts of barbequed beef trimmed with potatoes and veggies Along with home made bread rolls. We were told that if we wanted more food just to yell out. The management intended that nobody should leave hungry. I can tell you that the initial portions were large enough to fill up just about anybody. And the food was good enough that my plate was clean by the end of the meal.

We get a story about the Prairie Rose Cowboy Supper

After our meal we were treated to a fun show with music provided by the Prairie Rose Wranglers. As I said earlier, the men singin' and pickin' up on stage were the same men who had served our meal. The music was not country and western, rather we told it was cowboy music. Toward the end of the show, the children in the audience were called up to sing along with the cowboys.

It was fun to watch the children sing along

I personally can recommend this place as a great place to take the family. Of course I may be just a bit biased because I was a hard core Hopalong Cassidy fan when I was a kid.

After the show, we returned to puppyville to play with puppies before calling it a day. It has be a fun and busy day.

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