Great Day

I have come to the conclusion that today is one of the best days of my life. Today I pet a tiger. ... and a Grizzly Bear... three cougars and a lion. Yesterday we got the go ahead to start having unrestricted contact with the cats so naturally I could barely sleep last night. I had decided a couple weeks ago that I really wanted Sierra to be my first tiger, but today I was on cougars so I justified petting all of those (the friendly ones anyway) by deciding that cougars, bears and lions aren't tigers so its ok. :) I visited with Sierra for a long time and she just rolled around on her back for me so I could scratch her belly. Tsavo the lion kept giving me his shoulder but I had a really hard time getting through the mane. It is incredibly thick! And quite oily, lions produce an oil from their skin for water proofing so it was a bit like scratching an oily shag carpet. Cougar fur is soft like fleece and grizzly fur is thick and course. I am about to head back from lunch at this point, so I can continue the day I have been waiting for since...well...ever.