Wild Friends and Cat World

The morning of our 5th day at Best Friends, was spent touring the Wild Friends area.

"Best Friends’ Wild Friends refuge is a state- and federally-licensed wildlife rehabilitation center for helping orphaned and injured wild animals get back on their feet – and back to the wild. There’s hardly a wild one in need that we haven’t seen here. From bobcats, to eagles, to little wild bunnies, everyone needs a helping hand from time to time. And there’s nothing more rewarding than seeing them run or fly free again after medical care and a short reprieve here at Wild Friends. A small number who are too injured to be re-released or who are actually exotic pets rather than wild animals stay on as part of our wildlife education program."

While they care to a variety of wild animals, we mostly were able to see the wild birds they are currently working with. The other animals were either sleeping in their enclosures or aren't a part of the tour as they are trying to reintroduce them to a wild life style.

Next, we got a surprise, bonus tour of the Parrot Garden. They are in the middle of transitioning to a new building so we got to see the birds they were moving out to their outdoor enclosures.

"Parrot Garden is the one place on the Sanctuary where you can talk to an animal and she may talk back! Birds lose their homes just like other pets. In fact, because parrots live such a long time (some up to 100 years!), they can become homeless many times over the course of their lives. Many of the parrots here have been through many homes, and many have special needs to boot, but at Parrot Garden, they can rest and heal. In a light-filled tropical environment, they enjoy nutritious meals, top-notch vet care, lots of mental and social stimulation, and the attention they crave and need to recover."

Sam made a little buddy on our tour.

After our tours, it was time for lunch at Angel Village. Best Friends has a large, vegetarian buffet available to all staff and volunteers for just $5. We ate here most days since it was close and we didn't have time to drive into town everyday. 

I'll be honest, I was a little skeptical at first of how good the food was going to be, turns out the food is delicious! The buffet was really amazing, and the view was even better, we could sit outside on the patio and have an immersive view of the beautiful canyon.

That afternoon we volunteered at Cat World, this time we went to Benton's House. This is one of the kids' favorite houses because it has a room named Tomato's Office, which is where all the super senior kitties live. They were very excited for me to experience Benton's House and Tomato's Office.

Sam is such a hard little worker and was constantly asking if there were any chores he could help with. There were some food dishes that needed to be cleaned and he was excited to help out. Such a sweet little buddy.

All the kitties were soooooo sweet. They loved getting attention and climbing up on our laps and settling in.

The weather was lovely that day, so a lot of the cats were spending time outside in their catios ;)

That night the kids were ecstatic to return to the Three Bears for dinner. We had quite the long wait for a meal so we played Disney Heads Up while we waited. I had been quizzing the kids with brain teasers all week to help pass time while we were waiting for various things, and I had read pretty much every brain teaser the internet had to offer, so Heads Up was a total life saver.

Evie got a free ice cream for her birthday!

After dinner, we went to see the new Beauty and the Beast, it had just come to Kanab that morning! There is one movie theater in town, the Crescent Moon. It only shows one movie at a time and it only plays 5 times a week ... small towns ...

We had a little time to spare while we waited for the movie to start so we had some fun with snap chat filters.

This was my second time seeing this movie and it was even better the second time, it was the first time seeing it for all the Griffins and they loved it as well.