Day 3,328

The Final Destination: Blue Ridge

4:30AM departure. 

They slept until right about 7:30. 

Breakfast came soon after, though I will say that my kiddies didn’t quite enjoy their meal as much as I had hoped. 

Not to worry, muffins and bananas held us over until Noah’s Ark Sanctuary—a 7 hour drive and the perfect second leg stretch point in our 9.5 hour journey. 

A sanctuary open free to the public, Noah’s Ark is home to a striking variety of rescued animals, including their most renowned trio: Baloo, Shere Khan, and Leo. 

These three animals—a bear, a tiger, and a lion—were found TOGETHER during a drug raid when they were only cubs!! And since then, they’ve been kept TOGETHER in the same literal home habitat for years. The three of them are best friends and share a log house, complete with a front porch. They play and fight and love and snuggle together, as if they were the same animal species! They’re the reason we decided to make the pit stop and though we didn’t get to witness their interaction—as at least one of the three has died—it was so much fun seeing their pictures together and watching their videos!

Endless smiles and lots of cool treasures. 

What a day!

Many of the big cats we saw were either rescued from criminal enterprises, bankrupt circuses, or because of their aggressive temperaments in circus acts (wait—wild predators are aggressive?! Who knew!). 

:)

Definitely thankful for our pit stop, but I will say, finishing the drive and walking into our giant Blue Ridge cabin was surely the most exciting thing for Mama. 



We are here! And we did SOOOOOO good in the car all those hours. I am incredibly proud of these babes and so honored by their patience on a day where it was definitely hard to have while strapped in a seat belt. Bravo, my loves! I hope you have the best time on the mountain!