E.M.A. - Wednesday

We found another GREAT adventure today! Although I have had Lufkin on our adventure list several times in past years, it never happened because someone got sick and we had to stay home, or we had to go with a rainy-day back up plan. Each time I've quietly changed the plan, I've been a bit disappointed that we didn't get to go to Lufkin.

Today, we made it to Lufkin! Now, Lufkin doesn't seem like it would be so exciting, but there is a beautiful zoo there and it was the perfect summer morning for a zoo outing. The Ellen Trout zoo is a hidden gem -- it is BEAUTIFUL! The gardens are planned so that we felt like we were going through a jungle, and we never could see too far ahead. The lush greenery hid about 80 peacocks and peahens, though they were loud enough we were not ever surprised to see them when they were on the sidewalks. Many of the exhibits were done creatively -- the crocodiles were enclosed in an area that was made to look like a fallen bridge, for example -- and streams and fountains connected several areas.

A little red train goes around the big park where the zoo is located, and the kids really wanted to ride the train. Though it wasn't on my original plan, I had no good reason NOT to do it... so we did. We rode around the park on the train, then got into our car just as the raindrops started falling.

Lunch was at an old drive-in with a cafe -- it was established in 1948 was still sporting decor from decades back. We had burgers, fries, and onion rings in a laid-back atmosphere.

Our final Lufkin site was the Texas Forestry Museum. It was an interesting display of the history of the forest industry -- from planting tree seeds and the science of East Texas trees, to the history of the beginning of local lumber and paper mills, to the history of the small towns built around those areas. Some of the exhibits were more interesting than others to us, but the kids' favorite part was the train and depot. The train was an outside exhibit and the kids could climb on parts of it and they spent a lot of time pretending they were on a time machine while I sat and watched birds.

It was about an hour and a half drive home and I remembered just how much these early morning adventures can wear us all out.