Girl Raised as a Bushman Playing with Wild Big Cats

[Dan F]

if the kids are still young dan, you should stop by http://www.prehistoricgardens.com/ as well

They are three and five and my son is really into dinosaurs, so we are definitely going.

Dan, if you haven't already done it, you have to do the sand dunes south of Florence, OR. Jessie Honeyman State Park is a great place to camp and play in the sand dunes. If you are going to be in Southern OR this summer, you will hit the park when they have the most big cat babies...just call before you go so you know exactly what babies they have. (Right now they only have a black bear cub---and I hate bears---too many times they got into our garbage--so I wouldn't think of driving there right now)

If you're going to be in Gold Beach, you can make day trips--Oregon Caves out of Cave Junction, OR is nice on a hot day. Children have to be at least 42" tall, though. Crescent City is not that far. We have redwood groves. Jed Smith Park is nice. In the summer there is a foot bridge across the Smith River. The redwoods are so majestic. You could also drive further south and drive Avenue of the Giants. If you did that, stop in Scotia and tour Pacific Lumber's mill. You can't miss the mill--it's right off Hwy 101. If you do go to Cave Junction, there is a Big Cat reserve just before Cave Junction. They boast about a very large collection of big cats. Unfortunately, they do not have a petting area. They do have tours and discuss the various cats. I much prefer holding and petting babies.

We are going in the end of July for three nights. We have been thinking about driving down to a redwood grove, but I'm not sure if we will want to drive much, as it is a five hour drive down to Gold Beach so we might be pretty sick of the car. The Game Park is a definite must-see for us, and we may very well check out the dunes, it is the sort of thing my son would be really into. The other big cat reserve might be interesting, too, I will look it up. We are renting a house right on the beach, just north of the Rogue River, so if weather is good we may just spend most of our time on the beach.

I would love to do the caves, as I like caving a lot, but my daughter has a ways to go before she hits 42" - she may be in fourth grade at the rate she is going....