A Fun Time With Friends

Our friends Randy and Serene (who we met at Farragut State Park) drove all the way up to Sequim, Washington to visit with us for a few days.  We had a great time visiting, eating, and walking on the spit here at the refuge.

One day we went to the Olympic Game Farm which is just down the road from the Refuge. 

The farm is 84 acres with over 200 animals.  At the driving tour entrance Serene splurged on 2 loaves of wheat bread and was nice enough to share with us.  Wheat bread is the only food the public is allowed to feed the animals.

Our tour started at the prairie dog village.  These cuties were out and about.  They didn’t seem to be too interested in the bread but there were plenty of gulls flying around that would snatch a whole slice out of the air and take off with it!

Prairie dogs

Next stop - yaks and llamas.

While Mark and I were being skimpy with our bread, Randy was handing it out as fast as he could.  He had lots of takers. 

This llama got a little pushy and came right in the window! 

Llama

Apparently Randy wasn’t fast enough and our little llama friend started eyeing the back seat.

We made it through the llama area with all our fingers intact!

The Olympic Game Farm worked exclusively for Walt Disney Studios for 28 years, filming here at the farm and on the Olympic Peninsula.  A few movies and television series are  “Charlie the Lonesome Cougar”, “The Incredible Journey”, “White Wilderness” and “Grizzly Adams”, and several National Geographic documentaries.   

We passed by the “famous” waving bears.  They weren’t waving today. 

They were chilling out!

After the death of Walt Disney in 1965, the Disney Studios began to move away from the nature films.  In 1972, with the approval of the Disney Studios for using the Disney name, Olympic Game Farm, Inc. was opened to the public.  The founders, Lloyd and Catherine Beebe, retired from the filming industry and focused solely on caring for their animal actors, concentrating on offering “in need” captive bred animals a new and loving home.

There were many of these beautiful peacocks.  We could hear them males rattling their feathers as part of the courting ritual.

Peacock

After making our way through most of the park we came to the last area, the bison area.  The brochure and signs warn “NO STOPPING WITH THE ELK OR BISON. DAMAGE MAY OCCUR. DO NOT FEED THEM AT THE ENTRANCES TO FIELDS. MOVE FAR INTO THE FIELD BEFORE  FEEDING. MOVE AT A SLOW PACE AT ALL TIMES. Stopping with the bison will result in damage to your vehicle and the vehicles behind you will be a scratching post.”

This bad boy did not read the sign “DO NOT FEED THEM AT THE ENTRANCES...”:

American Bison

Unfortunately, the people in front of us didn’t read the sign either:

While stopping for the car in front of us, the bison took full advantage.  Mark and I still had most of our loaf of bread and we started giving it out as fast as we could.

 Tongues tickle!

When they started getting so close all I could get in the picture was either an eyeball or a nostril, it was time to roll up the window.

It was a fun day, we laughed the whole trip!

The end.