My Mom and I take a mother/daughter weekend twice a year and the first weekend of October we went to an Elephant Sanctuary in Arkansas and then we spent a couple of says at a casino in Shreveport. My Mom lives in San Antonio and I live in the Dallas Fort Worth area. I flew down to SAT Fri morning and met my Mom at the airport and then we flew back together to DFW and then started our trek to Arkansas – about 6 hours away. I flew with her because she doesn’t like to fly and because she has emphysema and was nervous about flying in case she got anxious and needed oxygen. I calmed her nerves by flying with her, so it really helped I flew with her. I loved meeting up with her – it was really cool to spend extra time with her. My Dad was at home by himself but we called him several times a day to update him where we were so he wouldn’t worry, and also to receive updates on how the dogs were doing. It wasn't easy for my Mom and I to finally do this, but we did. She had a lot to do and I had a lot to do, before we could take the trip. But, we got everything done in time luckily. Oh, she did fly back by herself, and I was able to sit with her at the airport, even though I didn't have a ticket, because they let me through security to sit with her. I was so happy to sit with her, but so sad when she left. ;(
The elephant sanctuary was wonderful in Arkansas! We both cried when we first walked up on the elephants. We stayed the whole 4 hours of the visiting day and I brought chairs for us to sit in. We were lucky the weather was good - not rainy and not hot. The elephants were behind metal fences, but not chained up. There were a lot of visitors, but only a few others stayed the whole time like us. There were two baby elephants, but they were still almost 3,000 pounds!
I finally put up all the photos from our trip. Click here.
We then drove to Shreveport to stay at the casino a couple of nights. My Mom enjoyed the buffet and the quarter slots, but the smoke made her feel bad. I played poker one evening and thoroughly enjoyed myself! My second time playing limit poker at a casino and I won many hands, but made one HUGE mistake that I may never forget. I had a full house but didn’t realize it and mucked my cards when I saw the other guy had the ace high flush. As the cards were being dealt, I realized there were two kings on the board, and I had two fives, and the other five was on the board as well. Ugh! I stated it out loud that I had a flush (shouldn’t have said it) and tried to make myself look like a non-newbie by saying I just wasn’t paying attention. Then a guy next to me told me later I could really taken the guy for his money… I was only thinking I showed I was new, instead of thinking how much money I could have won! Even if it was only a $4-$8 game, still! I can’t wait to play again.
I don’t know how my Mom and I are going to top the elephant sanctuary trip! It was so much fun being around my Mom for that long – 6 days or so. We normally go to the Frio River in the Texas Hill Country for our mother/daughter weekend and this was nice, too, though.
