The Forest of the 21st Century

(F.Y.I. – this took place the weekend before last)

As the weather cools a bit here, and we can sense fall just around the corner, we decided it was time to have another little family trip. Thursday is my long day; I have to work until five and most of that is spent at my desk. On the spur of the moment, I began looking for places to camp in Asahikawa. Five minutes until five o’clock, I dashed downstairs to ask Fusae to make a phone call for me. The line was busy the first two times she called and I nearly gave up. Finally, she got through and discovered that they did, in fact, have one available “bungalow” left. We were very lucky – there had been a cancellation. So, I happily bounced home and told Aaron and the boys that we would be going to the zoo on Saturday and spending the night in a campground. The kids were nearly beside themselves with excitement.

Saturday turned out to be beautiful and not too hot. We made good time to the zoo and enjoyed our most recent splurge: an Ipod. We simply could not make another road trip without music. Since our car has no CD/tape player and the radio stations are pretty limited, we usually travel without any tunes. This time, we listened to music all way there in back and it was wonderful. Even if we had to listen to, “Anything you Can Do” from the play Annie Get Your Gun about a dozen times (Holt loves that song).

The zoo was perfect. It was crowded, but we just took our time and moseyed along. It’s much nicer in the summer. If you recall, last time we went it was VERY cold. We enjoyed not having to worry about breaking a hip on the slippery ice!

We bought Ridge and Holt some kid’s meals for lunch and this is what was inside the box. The food with the white drawings is “onigiri” – rice balls wrapped in nori (seaweed).
kid's bento

Many of the exhibits at this zoo are designed to get the visitors up close and personal with the animals. These are two photos that really illustrate this goal. First is the chimpanzee enclosure, and second is the macaque habitat. You can see Asahikawa in the background.
"What are you looking at?"
A Room with a View

The “farm animal” section was a load of fun, too! I love how they built the feeders for the goats. There was also an opportunity for kids to pet guinea pigs. First, everyone stood in line and waited patiently. Then, they each had a turn sitting and having a critter handed to them by a very watchful staff person. You can see the diagram with the rules illustrated very clearly.
Notice what they are standing on
Petting Instructions
Staff with a basket o'critters
Ridge's turn
Holt's turn
Watch your step!

After our lovely day at the zoo, we drove to a campground about twenty minutes away. This place was called, “The Forest of the 21st Century.” I don’t know why. It was wonderful! We stayed in a very cozy cabin, the boys played on a play structure just fifty yards away, and we explored the other camping and recreational areas within the park. When fall is here for good and the trees begin to turn colors, we hope to return to this park.

The entryway
Bottom floor, view one
Sleeping area and loft
Garden view
Garden view, 2
Play structure