elk

Grant’s Farm in the Time of COVID-19

It’s been a long time since we’ve been to Grant’s Farm!

Last week, the day before they announced the opening of the park to regular guests, we took a private “Deer Park Adventure” tour. We’ve been on a private expedition at Grant’s Farm once before, but it was before Chickadee was born, and long enough ago that Moose and Ladybug really didn’t remember it. I decided we needed a special end-of-the-school-year activity, especially after the last 15 months of staying home and missing all of our usual (not to mention spontaneous!) field trips. The tour was very much like I remembered it from last time…we got to ride in a safari van with a great driver and narrator who made the experience amazing, and go on trails not taken by the normal trams, and see the grounds up close and personal! Of course, some things were different, from temperature checks and masks to being pretty much the only visitors in the park, and not getting to see some familiar things like the Tiergarten and the Clydesdales, but such is life during COVID-19.

We had a nice moment for a family photo in front of Hardscrabble cabin before we took a peek inside the house built by Ulysses S. Grant:

Probably the best part of the private tour is getting up close to the animals:

We even got to hand-feed some of them, including elk, buffalo (a buffalo actually licked me!), and, of course, goats:

This was a fun and memorable activity, and I’m really glad we had the chance to do something special as a family before the school year ends. I’m looking forward to going back now that they’re open to the general public again, too!

Grant’s Farm

Yesterday, we finally made it Grant’s Farm for the first time this summer. We usually make it out there much earlier in the year, (and usually multiple times by this point!), but it was a very busy summer, and it just hadn’t happened yet. We did try to get there last month, but when we got there, we discovered that they were closed for the week…note to self: always double-check the website before leaving home, just in case!

Anyway, we went, and the weather was beautiful. Cool, which was a nice change from the hot weather we’ve grown accustomed to encountering when we’re there. As always, it was a unique trip–it doesn’t matter how many times we’ve been there–we always see something new!

We saw an adorable baby buffalo. I wanted to bring it home, but my family vetoed that plan. Hey, I figured it would keep our lawn nice and short!

We also got to see an elk with a very impressive pair of antlers–I wouldn’t want to get too close to that guy in the wild!

We also saw many, many peacocks and peahens wandering around…plus some peachicks, too. I couldn’t get a great picture of the male’s tail feathers, because he kept trying to get away from us, (I wonder why?!?), but they were just as impressive as I’d imagined they would be!

The exotic birds were in rare form, too. Very vocal, and strangely expressive, face-wise. Who knew?

Of course, we had to visit the Clydesdale stable. We didn’t get to see any of them too close this time, but we did see a lot of them eating!

It was another fun family outing. I’m very grateful that we live in a place that has so many interesting, (and often free or inexpensive!), places for us to visit!