Charleston 2017, Part THREE

the last portion of our trip was the southeastern wildlife exhibition.  this is a huge event that happens annually in charleston and was going on when we were in town. our cousin was working a food tent at one of the locations so we got tickets and toured around.

there were gorgeous wild bird exhibits which captivated all of us.  it including a kite tailed hawk from africa that could catch food in the air.  i did not get good photos of the birds but we got to see gorgeous owls and hawks right up close.  it was really cool.

we spent most of our time at a park right on the water where there were food tents, tractors that kids could climb up on, a petting zoo with ridiculously cute baby goats, pony rides (also camel rides, which was weird???) and dogs competing to jump of docks and retrieve things. 

when you get photo bombed by a camel.

a kid's first pony ride feels like a rite of passage.  it was really satisfying watching her get on without any fear and just sit there sweetly as it went round and round.  when she was done i asked her how it was and she said 'it was a little long'.  i guess she got bored?

when we went by the food tent where our cousin was working, we scored some delicious food.  fried alligator was among lunch items and eden just could not believe me when i told her what it was.  she kept laughing and saying 'its not alligator'. it took me a while to convince the child that i was not kidding.  she tried some, which impressed me.  'tastes like chicken' she replied.  also kyle gave us multiple free funnel cakes.  i was begging him to stop by the end.  eden was not.

by the end of the day we were exhausted.  our cousins took us to a delicious bbq joint where we all stuffed our faces until it was too late, and we were too full, to do anything but surrender and head back for some sleep.

a great trip in the books.