Eifel Park Gondorf

Saturday we took the girls to Eifel Park Gondorf for the first time. We were surprised at how fun it really was. Trek called it a "Dollar Store Amusement Park." It's definitely not Six Flags, but it was fun & it kept us busy for several hours.

As you walk into the park, the sidewalk is lined with several painted bears. Taya got up close & personal with one.

As soon as you pass the bears, there is a huge open field full of animals. There were deer, elk, emu, & billy goats. We bought some wild animal feed & let the girls feed the animals. I was SO surprised because even Lorien fed them. She's normally terrified of wild animals. She didn't even cry.

After feeding all the animals, we found a fun little playground. These playgrounds crack me up because they are SO dangerous. But they are SUPER fun! I especially enjoyed this little ride here. It was a ferris wheel. You put your kid inside the seat, put a loose chain in front of them & then you pedal on the bike next to it & it goes around & around. Talk about a blast, but any kid could easily fall out of it!

After playing in the playground, we found a giant cushion of air for the kids to jump on & some huge slides that were a BLAST for both the kids & the adults

After riding slides forever, we sat down for our PB & J lunches. The bees loved us. We ended up eating our lunches as we ran in circles trying to avoid getting stung by the bees. Yikes. We walked down the hill a ways & we found what they called "The Eifel Coaster." It was a roller coaster, & yes, kids could ride. SO FUN! First Lorien & I went down, & then Trek & Cadence rode it. Somewhere between the switching off, Taya managed to take off one of her squeaky shoes & chucked it to who knows where! I was SO angry. Those shoes were SO cute & we've only had them a few days & there she goes losing one of them. We spent a good 30 minutes searching & asking people if they had seen her shoe. She is such a stinker!

Then after that ordeal, we headed down the hill to see the wild birds, wolves, & bears. There were 2 gorgeous bald eagles. There was a whole pack of wolves & then 3 grizzly bears. The bears were SO tame. They would let the people feed them & then would get up & beg for more food like a little doggy. It was funny. I couldn't believe a grizzly could be that tame. It's a good thing they had a small wooden fence separating us from the animals. ha ha ha. I'm surprised nobody's gotten hurt at this place.

After seeing all the animals, we hiked back up the hill to the very top where there were more rides. First we rode the giant mushroom with swings which made me kind of sick mostly because the guy running it just let it run & run & run because nobody else was in line. We were spinning for over 5 minutes. Ugh!

Then Trek took them on the caterpillar roller coaster to see how they liked that & they LOVED it. Looks like our girls are going to be thrill seekers just like their mom & dad.

Then we found a climbing tower. Trek rode this with each of the girls. They had to pull themselves up via rope & then at the top they would let go & the seat would fall to the ground again. It was kind of like a "free fall" type of ride. They liked this one so much they did it over & over & over again!

After we finished up top (up top was where all those fun playgrounds were too. . .see my playground post that I posted yesterday), Cadence & I opted to ride that Eifel Coaster down to the bottom, while poor Trekkie had to walk with Bladen, Taya, & Lorien & the stroller. He's so sweet to me. Cadence & I had a blast. I never put on the brakes on the coaster so we were cruising. She was laughing & told me that Daddy didn't dare go this fast. "Mommy, you're so much braver than Dad!" I laughed at that. As soon as we reached the bottom of the coaster, the funniest thing happened. Wedged, underneath the track was TAYA'S SHOE! The little imp had tossed it so far that it got stuck in the roller coaster. I was SO happy to have the shoe back! I'm glad we chose to ride the coaster back down, or we would have never found it!

What a fun day. We're definitely going to have to go back to Eifel Park Gondorf. We had a blast!