Lions and Tigers and Dolphins...Oh My!

On Wednesday, the kids and I enjoyed another morning and afternoon at the hotel.  We watched cartoons, took naps, and went swimming again.  Good times!  But really what we were doing was passing the time until Daddy came home and we could embark on our next adventure.

As soon as Danny walked in, and I literally mean "as soon as", we were ready to head back out on the strip for another marathon walk to our next destination.  This time we were headed to the Mirage to check out The Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat.  Once again, we left ourselves barely enough time to get there before they closed for the day.  But thanks to some serious power-walking, we made it with about 8 minutes to spare.  Phew!

Ok, let me just say that this outing alone did a great deal to redeem Vegas as a whole.  It. Was. Incredible!  We came to the dolphin pools first.  I've never seen a live dolphin before, and Danny had only had a glimpse of one in the wild before.  So it wasn't only the girls that were excited this time!

  Johnny, in his stroller as usual, slept through this part...

I think I can say, hands down, that dolphins are the coolest animals I've ever seen!  The habitat consists of four research pools that the dolphins just swim in.  There are no shows.  But you can literally sit at the pool's edge, and when the dolphins swim to that edge, you're only about 3 feet away from them.  It was amazing how social they were, and there is a very strong impulse to dive in and swim with them!  We restrained ourselves.  Barely.  But I think we have a new goal to get on a future list!

We seriously could have stayed with the dolphins for the rest of the time we were there, but we had less than an hour before they closed for the night.  We had heard that the Secret Garden was pretty cool, so we headed that way next.

It was so cool!  They had 5 or 6 white tigers, and these animals were simply breathtaking.  And again, we were only about 3 feet from the fencing, and these tigers were feeling social.  Beyond awesome.

We couldn't believe how big this guy was!  Tigers are always cool to see, but this particular white tiger was just gorgeous.   And, in my opinion, unusually playful...you know, for a tiger.

We also saw a black panther, at which Claire immediately exclaimed, "Bagheera!"  This guy did look a lot like the beloved Disney character.

And then more white tigers!  Apparently, these were of different species of tiger.  They looked a lot like the other ones to me!  You can see one playing in the waterfall behind the girls and me.

A white tiger, sleeping in a tree.  So cool!

And the white lion was just...I don't know!  Incredible!  I've never seen a white lion, and we were so close to him.  He kept pacing the fence, and he would roar at me any time I stuck my camera close to the fence.  Even though he was on the other side of that fence, his growl made me nervous!

 What a handsome fella!  We also saw a cheetah...but she was sleeping.

The girls were just loving all these big cats!  Claire is at the age where she can really appreciate what she's seeing.  I can't believe our baby is almost four!

We had about a half hour before the habitat and garden closed for the day, so we decided to go spend some more time with the dolphins.  And I wanted to make sure we had enough time to hit the gift shop for some sort of souvenir.  So off we went!

On a side note, I just love Danny!  I love watching him with our kids.  I love that he not only wanted to take us along with him for this business trip, but instead of relaxing after a long day at work, he took us out on adventures almost every night.  I could search the whole world over, twice, and never find a man like him.  He's awesome!

Ok, so back to the dolphins! :)

We came back during feeding time, which was totally fun to watch.  It also made the dolphins particularly giddy.  Can't say I blame them...I get giddy at dinnertime, too! :)

Johnny woke up just before we left the Secret Garden.  I was glad, because I thought he might get a kick out of the dolphins.  I was right!

There was one place left that we hadn't been too yet, and that was the underground observation area.  It was really neat to be able to watch the dolphins swim.  Like I said, Johnny got a kick out of his water mammal friends. :)

Between our experience at the aquarium the night before, and here at the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat, I learned something about Claire.  She really loves to find the pictures of the animals we're seeing.  She carried around her information booklet while we were looking at the animals, and then snagged a picture of a dolphin at the gift shop for her souvenir.  Just like with the lionfish at the aquarium, she wanted the dolphin to see its picture.  She cracks me up!

And with that, it was time to head home.  We still had an adventure ahead of us just getting back to the hotel! Not to mention we still had another day of vacation before we had to go home.  But even with the promise of more fun on the horizon, it was still hard to leave this awesome place.

Sophie wanted to stay forever. :)