Treasure hunting.

Last Thursday, we visited Living Treasures Animal Park for the first time. They have two locations - one in the Laurel Highlands and the one that we visited, which is in Moraine. I've seen their billboards over and over again as we've traveled the PA turnpike in both directions, but I never considered actually going there, even after we had Lauren. I guess I thought it was just a cheesy little roadside attraction, but it wasn't that at all, far from it! In fact, I'd even say it was much better than most of the zoos that we've visited!



What makes it so special is that you can actually feed and directly interact with most of the animals. You can't tell from this photo, but this pen is filled with a variety of hungry deer. They move from one person to the next in hopes that you'll give them a treat. The park provides bags of carrots and feed that you can purchase as you come through the gate. There are also vending machines throughout the park that contain speciality feed.




For example, this gibbon was really hoping I was going lend him a quarter so he could get something out of the "monkey ball" machine.



When you enter the park, you're greeted by a pond filled with flamingos. I've seen a lot of flamingos before, but I never noticed that they have pink feet! I guess because I've never been close enough to get a good look at them.



Here's Mark demonstrating the proper form for feeding a Scottish Highlander.



Now obviously you can't interact with the wild cats. There's no amount of insurance to cover that kind of liability.



This white tiger's name is Peppermint. He had a Bengal tiger friend named Kit Kat who passed away this January.



Of all the animals that you can feed, the highlight of the whole park has to be the giraffes. Check out that weird tongue!

It's just like patting dad on the head. He's almost as tall!

They have a large fenced in area just brimming with goats.

Remember that time when Mark was overtaken by baby goats? Yep, it was awesome.

Here's Lauren with her favorite little goat of the bunch.

Even though she was only partially white, I'd definitely consider her for membership into my white pet club because she was just too cute.

Next was the kangaroos. The one thing that I learned about kangaroos is that they are very sleepy animals. Even as Lauren was feeding them carrots, they looked extremely drowsy.



And holding a baby kangaroo? WINNING! Again, this joey was so very sleepy - he could barely hold his eyes open for the photo! The babies are kept inside their fabric sacks which are actually hung along the wall of the photo booth. They seem pretty content to literally hang out inside their purses, but if I was a baby kangaroo, I'd request the Kate Spade version.

If I had a favorite buffalo, it was would have to be this white bison. She just had the sweetest face. Her name was either Bubbles or Bonnie, but I think she looks more like a Blondie.

She definitely wanted to go home with me. 

Now we get to do the Watusi! This is Walter. He was hanging out under the bridge and then very slowly made his way over to the fence. I have this progression of photos where he gets a little closer in each one - lol.

Lastly, we conclude with this mighty hungry little muntjac. We all agreed that this is what Cookie would look like if she was muntjac and not an Italian Greyhound.