Saturday, April 1, 2017

A is for Amusement parks and Alpacas

Amusement parks and alpacas....what do those two things have in common?  I'm sure there is an amusement park somewhere that houses alpacas, but that's not the commonality I am looking for.  As I mentioned in my previous post, I am obsessively planning my family vacation!  An amusement park and an alpaca farm are on our agenda!
Yay?  You are going to an amusement park on vacation?  Don't you have annual passes to the amusement park close to your home?  Yes to all three!  This amusement park we are going to on vacation is different than our normal haunt. (Worlds of Fun)


Rush Mountain Adventure Park is one of our bigger budget items for our vacation.  For my family of four, it is going to cost us around $200 to go.  That is for an unlimited day pass though.  I mean, who wants to ride a mountain coaster only once?   I've never been on a mountain coaster but I think I'm going to love it so much that I will want to do it numerous times. 


I told the kidlets about this place, so you know the first thing they did was YouTube mountain coasters.  I admit I did also.


The park has other activities: a zipline, 7-D adventure experience, a cave and just fun things.

I found a video that shows the fun of the place.  There are a few others out there, but this is the best, compact to the point one.



Alpacas!  The girl child, sometimes we call her Alli (hey!  another A word!), loves alpacas.  She loves animals period, but alpacas have a special place in her heart.  Look at them.  They are adorable.  Their faces, their fur, all the things about them.  I found an alpaca farm we can visit fairly close to Badlands National Park (which will be featured in the B post).  Sure, there are alpaca farms close to where we live, but visiting an Alpaca farm in South Dakota!   It adds a little to the icing on her cake for vacation and that makes it worth a visit. 
The place I found is called Caputa Alpacas.  It's a little farm that has alpaca, a few llamas and some dogs.  It's open for families to come visit free of charge.  They do accept donations.  My question is: for a family of four, what would be an acceptable donation to give them?  I'm lost on what I should give them.  $5 per person?  That seems to be the admission prices of places in the area.  Let me know your opinions in the comments.

Also, leave me your link, I would love to come visit your A word!

P.S.  I'm a little obsessed with biology.  Here is where Alpacas come into play in the Tree of LIfe.

  • Kingdom: Animalia   
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Class: Mammalia 
  • Order: Artiodactyla 
  • Family: Camelidae 
  • Genus: Vicugna 
  • Species:Vicugna pacos


  • What animals do you think are their cousins?

    4 comments:

    1. Mary, who knits and crochets a lot, says alpaca is one of the more luxurious yarns, and expensive even though there are so many alpaca farms around these days. Great start!

      John Holton
      A to Z Challenge Co-Host
      The Sound Of One Hand Typing

      ReplyDelete
    2. If I remember correctly, Camel's would be their cousins.

      ReplyDelete
    3. I am visiting from the Blogging A to Z challenge. Our family loves going to amusement parks. Have fun!

      ReplyDelete