Kimberly A. Cook

Military Romance Author

White Tigers

It’s Tiger Tuesday?

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by Kimberly A. Cook              (Twitter@  WarriorTales)

So what comes after Black Friday and Cyber Monday? Tiger Tuesday! Have several big cat photos I took in Las Vegas I wanted to share. So what better way to do that than pile on to the naming day craze?

Last week I showed the picture of the white tiger cub so this week I wanted you to see both cubs. They told us they never know when they will get a white or a golden tiger cub in a litter. I love both!

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In this photo the cubs were in the nursery display area for four hours each day. Even with attendants, a large stuffed white tiger helped to ease their missing Mom. Obviously, the golden one thinks it’s Mom since he or she is cleaning the tiger. How adorable!

Next up is a close up of one of the leopards on a high rock shelf. This is the zoom full out. How gorgeous is this big guy? It took some framing of the shot to get his eyes between the link fence, but I am so happy I got him looking at me. I’m quite sure I bored him or her, but wow what a beautiful pussycat.

IMG_0787Came around the corner from the leopard and there was one of the large male white tigers with his eyes locked on the prize. Another leopard next to him had been out of his enclosure next to this guy and then came back in; white tiger had his eyes on him. The leopard never looked at him. I can understand why. I was not more that ten feet from the white tiger and he couldn’t care less about us humans, it was an amazing show of territory among big cats.

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Just to prove he really didn’t care about humans, how about this close up?

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And last but not least, who could leave without a swim by from one of my favorite mammals, the dolphin. Here is one of the boys keeping an eye on me and the rest of the two-legged humans. How amazing is he?

IMG_0748.JPGI always wonder what they’re thinking. I know they are so much smarter than moi. Easily.  And they can fly in the water! I require flotation devices, at least two.

If you get a chance to visit Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at The Mirage in Las Vegas, go check it out. Your visit helps their conservation programs, including the one for the white lions of Timbavati who were rescued from the brink of extinction by the entertainers.

Maybe white lion pictures next Tuesday? Every Tuesday should be Tiger Tuesday!

 

 

Las Vegas Education?

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by Kimberly A. Cook           (Twitter@ WarriorTales)

Still processing all the things I saw in Las Vegas, but I’ve come up with some lessons learned that might be helpful to others.

Did not see any books in Las Vegas on the Strip. Okay, I saw a couple children’s books at the Siegfried and Roy Dolphin and Tiger Sanctuary, but the only other books I saw were in the Elvis exhibit from what he had on his nightstand. Elvis loved to read. Yes!

White tigers and lions are amazing; tiger cubs even cuter! Tigers are bigger than lions. I had no idea. Cubs make the cutest growly noises when they play.

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McDonald’s has some killer oatmeal and it’s way cheaper than $7.99 for a bowl of room service oatmeal. McDonald’s is also smoke free, which cannot be said about any other place on the Strip practically, except Denny’s.

I gamble very little, bet a buck and cashed out at $1.11. Don’t drink much and didn’t go to a show. I wasn’t there for a convention, bachelor or bachelorette party. So I am not their target demographic. I’m good with that. Las Vegas hosts 22,000 conventions a year. That is NOT a typo.

The street performers are everywhere. Personally ran into KISS, Chewbacca, Mickey and Minnie, Hello Kitty, Catwoman, Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, multiple Minions, the snowman from Frozen, show girls, dominatrixes (how do you make that plural?) some guy in cowboy boots, cape and red, white and blue underwear who must have been freezing and Darth Vader. To name a few. All I did was walk outside.

Took in the night lights bus tour of the casinos and when everyone was taking pictures of The Mirage volcano erupting, I was taking pictures of them and the rest of the Strip. Another rule from photojournalism; when everybody is looking in one direction, look the other way!

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Highlights were seeing the dolphins, lions and tigers and learning about the conservation program to save them all. Enjoyed the Elvis exhibit from Graceland very much. Got to see his actual Army uniform too. The end of the exhibit had a 26-minute film of Elvis performing from 1956 to 1973. You can only see it at this exhibit and it is amazing.

One song in particular he sang hit me pretty hard and I wasn’t the only one tearing up. I’ve thought of it many times since returning home.

In these days before Thanksgiving, I am so glad to live in the USA and be grateful for all I have. Because no matter what happens, America was built by dreamers for dreamers. We have to keep dreaming big.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!