Wednesday, May 10, 2017

Will May Showers Bring April Followers?

It's Wednesday.  Normally I would have a Spring Things post.

I would post beautiful flowers now blooming where I live in upstate New York, such as these dogwood blooms.

Not today.

I am taking my normal Spring Things post and turning it into still another post about April the Giraffe.

Yes, that April, the giraffe who gave birth live on a webcam on April 15, as over a million people worldwide watched. 

Animal Adventure Park, where April, Oliver (her mate) and Taj (her baby) live, is about 30 minutes from where I live. It's located in a rural area near Harpursville, New York. And this week has not been a good week weatherwise for our part of upstate New York.  So this post is a little about local pride.

I want people to visit this area.  Heaven knows, we could use some influx of tourism dollars.  Face it, when you think of where to vacation, Harpursville is not on the top of anyone's bucket list.  Neither is where I work, Binghamton.

At this point, you are asking yourself one of three questions:
1. Has the author of this blog lost it?
2. Who cares?  Why would someone waste hours watching a giraffe pace back and forth?
3. I love April! What's going on?


A bad storm last Monday didn't make life easy, but life went on.  Thousands were without power, many trees were down.  Friday, another event.  Thousands without power (some the same people who were without power from Monday to Wednesday, or even longer).  There was some flooding. Animal Adventure is safe, but the torrential rains (more rain over the weekend) has not made it easy for them, as they struggle to open on time - May 13.

So, about that webcam everyone watched: The webcam is no longer on 24/7; it is on between 4pm and 8pm Eastern Daylight Time every Tuesday.

You can access an archive through April's website.

For me, and many others, watching April is like watching an aquarium or a fire burning.  So relaxing.  The cares of the world melt away.  Threats of nuclear war and other man made disasters are far away for a few moments.

But four hours a week (no, I don't watch it continuously) weren't enough for me.  Animal Adventure Park isn't open yet, so I knew I couldn't get in, but my spouse and I could still drive past it.  So we did, and here are my pictures taken April 29.
Here is the road (Martin Road, in Harpursville, New York) that leads to April's home.
First glimpse of the property.
The sign (sorry, I could have used a zoom but I was using my iPhone SE).

Closer....and you can vaguely see a lot of construction behind that fence.  This was made possible by the attention (and money) from the months that April was a viral celebrity.
Ah, if only I could have seen through that fence.

So no, I didn't see April.  In fact, I didn't see anyone.  I wonder if they were on their lunch break on that beautiful Friday afternoon.
I will leave you with one more picture of a dogwood taken yesterday.  This particular blog post doesn't begin to show the beauty of upstate New York.  So I have a question:

Are you an April fan?  Are you thinking about visiting Harpursville, New York to see April and her family?  If you are, do you want to find out more about the Binghamton area?  Let me know in the comments, and I'll be happy to blog more about what you might be interested in.

16 comments:

  1. I have no vacation plans at all this year. I will likely take Charlie to the Detroit Zoo. I haven't been in ages.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Yes, I would love to watch the adventure park if we visit upstate new York.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I will try to blog about some nearby places in the near future.

      Delete
  3. So I guess it's safe to assume you'll be visiting April when the park opens?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Safe assumption, except that the park's opening has now been delayed. I had a feeling it would be.

      Delete
  4. We go through or at least close to the area on our way to visit my daughter and grandsons in Vermont. I do miss seeing April...what do we do with our lives now...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Well, we either go on with life or cram a week's worth of living into Tuesday from 4-8 pm Eastern time.

      Delete
  5. I didn't fall into the April fascination. I bet they'll get crowds this year, though. Good for them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. The family that owns the park has been through so much (including having a toddler daughter with a rare form of epilepsy). I only wish them the best.

      Delete
  6. I was a bit confused about who April was ( reading your post at night on my mobile) and had to re read to find she was a giraffe! How very interesting. Well may be you will get a lot of tourists coming to see her if she is now an internet celebrity???

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. If they do, they may have to wait - the opening of the park has been delayed for two days due to our weather.

      Delete
  7. Gorgeous pics and that blue sky is amazing! I pinned a pic of that sweet little giraffe to my Pinterest board the other day - it was the cutest thing I'd seen in ages (almost worth that long gruelling wait!)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh, Tajiri is so sweet. What a shame AAP had to delay the opening of the park. I may not get there until June. When I do I will post pictures.

      Delete
  8. April the giraffe --- I love the name! I guess watching videos of a giraffe is like watching cat or dog videos...still very entertaining! Nice pics!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Watching the baby giraffe is too cute. I look forward to watching him grow, once a week.

      Delete

Thank you for visiting! Your comments mean a lot to me, and I appreciate each one. These comments are moderated, so they may not post for several hours. If you are spam, you will find your comments in my compost heap, where they will finally serve a good purpose.