#19 Ride an Animal (Elephant)

If I was able to do anything in the world I wanted during my lifetime, had limitless time, limitless money, and zero commitments, I would travel everywhere. Literally, everywhere. I'm pretty sure this passion and desire stemmed from my childhood, when my dad brought me to China. Everything was exactly as I had been told it would be like, but it was so different to experience it. I was fascinated by the different culture, the different lifestyles, the different architecture, the different language. Being able to see things in person that I had only seen pictures of before, like the Great Wall, was incredibly surreal. I was only in middle school and it was, by far, the most incredible thing I had ever experienced.

Ever since then, almost every major life decision I've made has revolved around my dream to experience as many different countries and cultures as possible-- from turning down "dates" after they told me they didn't care about traveling, to choosing colleges based on their study abroad programs, to switching majors so I'd be in a career path with potential to go abroad (International Business.) I've been lucky enough to visit China, Czech Republic, several countries in Western Europe, Nicaragua, the majority of the US and a few provinces in Canada, but there is still so much that I would love to see. I love meeting new people, trying new things, experiencing different cultures, learning about peoples' lives. It's addicting. If I had a real life-long bucket list, this would be 90% of it.

Unfortunately, at this point in my life, traveling abroad is very difficult financially. Right now I can barely afford my student loans, let alone a $1,000 plane ticket. So when I was developing my year-long bucket list, I tried to think of a few different things that I have wanted to experience abroad and could make happen in the US.

One of these things was riding an elephant. When I put this on my bucket list, I envisioned a few of the pictures I had seen friends take in Thailand and India. I literally had no idea how I was going to accomplish it, but I figured I could find somewhere that offered something comparable (if not in Minnesota, potentially another state.) I made it somewhat of a cop out, anyway, listing the goal as riding "an animal," because I didn't want that to be the only thing that would hold me back from completing the list as a whole. But I probably should have had more faith, because just a few weeks later a few people told me I would have to go to the Renaissance Festival with them, because they offer exotic animal rides, including llama rides, "war horse" rides, camel rides and... elephant rides! I had no idea it would be so easy to accomplish.

I've only been to the Renaissance Festival twice in my entire life (which is probably apparent, since I had no clue there were animal rides-- the fair ground isn't that big.) There really wasn't much that drew me to the fair as a whole in the past: I don't really care to dress up, I don't have much interest in that historical time period, the weather was incredibly hot and miserable the couple of times I had gone in the past, and most of the food I had tried (pickles on a stick and turkey legs) were not that appealing to me. I do, however, enjoy spending time with a couple people who love the Renaissance Festival (ex/ Brian Schwarz and Jeannie Perrin), so I would have been willing to go with anyway. Brian also won free tickets to the Renaissance Festival, so it wasn't much of a commitment financially.

This time, however, was a lot different than any of the times I had gone in the past. The weather was PERFECT. Brian and I went with Jeannie and Kevin (who I don't get to see quite as often anymore), as well as Kelly, Mike, Mallory and a boy she brought with (whose name I can't remember...) We went early enough in the day to actually watch some of the shows including jousting, comedy acts and belly dancing (a lot of which I didn't have a chance to see last year) and Brian and I were able to spend some time alone to do things that we were more interested in, rather than sticking with a large group the whole time. I looked through all the food they offered this time and they had BEER CHEESE SOUP (there are a few people that know just how much I love beer cheese soup, particularly because there are not many places that serve it.) We also were fairy dusted (covered in glitter) and smoked cigars. It was a good time. And of course, I was able to ride an elephant. :) :)

Here is my evidence:


Elephants are so beautiful and smart and I have never had the opportunity to be so close to one. Even aside from associating them with travel adventures, I have been particularly interested in them this year, after reading through Water for Elephants (which is an incredible book, by the way) and visiting the San Antonio zoo (where I saw an elephant in person for the first time.) Up close, they were a lot different than what I had imagined when I was watching them from a distance at the zoo. They were bigger than I was expecting them to be. Their skin was extremely dry and cracked. They didn't seem to mind having people on their backs at all-- a lot of them had food in their trunks that they were munching on as they walked in circles. Being able to be so close and touch it was awesome. It was not a very long ride, but it was, overall, a really fun experience. Even so, I still hope the next time I'm on an elephant, I will be in Thailand. :)