Friday morning we had another treat of waffles by Mark, pancakes by Dad and fruit salad by Laura. After a relaxing morning we packed up the van- still had to put one igloo on top of the van- and headed to Cabelas. What an amazing store. It is as large as a small mall. Inside are mini museums full of fabulous wildlife displays. First we saw a river Aquarium with fish longer than my arm. The catfish were so big that they just ideled around the bottom of the tank. The tanks themselves were impressive. They were at least 12 foot tall and about 8 foot wide. An entire wooden canoe was placed in one. And the length, it was as long as our apartment, on both sides- two aquariums. The blue gills were especially pretty as were the territorial bass.
Next we saw the African safari. Here we saw zebras and rhinos, crocs and whole pride of lions, there was even an elephant. We headed to the mountain- the centerpiece of the store. Each quadrant was a bit different. The first quad contained beavers and koi (these were actually real), next were the dessert dwellers with diamond backs, prairie dogs, cougars and deer. Then was the northern quad with ptarmigan, snow hairs, artic foxes, a polar bear and mountain goats.
Then we headed to the big game room, here there were stags mounted around the room and a description of how the points are counted. Most of the animals had irregular racks. We saw the difference between mule deer and white-tailed deer, wild turkeys, exotic game, and javelinas. After all that excitement we headed up to the lunch room where we got catfish, hushpuppies, cold slaw, pasta salad, puddin', mac 'n cheese and a salad. It was all great. Next we went to the shooting gallery- like a carnival, you shoot at targets and they cause a bear to pop up from behind the bushes, or a door to creak open, etc. Mark and I had fun with the other kido's making Halloween noises- I didn't realize I was such a good shot- last gun I shot was a be-be gun in middle school.
Heading back down stairs we wondered into the gun show room- an impressive classic collection. What an amazing store/museum. A short ride and we were home again, doing laundry. Mark and I headed out to the local half priced books- learning that they only take donations from in-state now. Mark didn't find any games this time, but we found a book on magical creatures for Mark's gaming reference, and Tigana. Heading over to Hastings we found "Walk the Line" and Brother's Grimm. For dinner, Mark and I made delicious nachos. With full tummies, we all sat down to watch "Walk the Line"- a sad but wonderful story about Johnny Cash with many of his great hits- we all loved it. Unfortuantely "Brother's Grimm" was not a hit, oh well.
After a breakfast of waffles and RR donuts, I permed Mom's hair to her curly delight. I also made a door stopper, based on the one that Mark and I have. Last time we visited, we found all the supplies, but ran out of time to put it together. Fortunately it worked wonderfully! Midmorning, we realized that we had the wrong time for our flight and ended up getting there just before they started boarding. Fortunately it was a direct flight to Chicago on Continental- they even gave us sandwiches and M&M's for a lunch snack (Mark and I had a schlotsky's earlier, but the snack was great) which doesn't seem to happen very frequently anymore with airlines.
Once we landed, I rewarded myself with an ice cream cone as we headed over to find the Van Galder. Since there were so many passengers returning from spring break to Madison, our bus went straight to Madison. Taking a taxi home, we fell happily into bed.
