Throwback Thursday: Deer Forest

After word broke late last week of a fire at Deer Forest, it got me thinking of all the times we went there as kids. The first stop during every trip was the deer just inside the gate with the date behind it.

At the time, there were plenty of deer in the park.

And they weren't afraid of you. If you'd come up to the fence with some food, they'd come say hi.

There were plenty of other animals, too, some of which you could go inside the pen and pet ...

... and some that you could ride on.

Of course, if you didn't like animals, there were rides you could try, too.

Other things to sit on included large animal sculptures ...

... tree stumps beside the playground ...

... and Santa's sleigh. The sleigh was just the first stop inside Santa's Workshop, of course. All the kids wanted to visit the workshop so they could visit the candy store.

There was so much to do at Deer Forest, everyone could have a good time and be a star. I haven't even mentioned Storybook Lane and the elephant-shaped keys, the pig races, the snakes, the roaming peacocks or the duck pond.

One of the last stops around the park was the large board full of headless animals that you got to fill in for family photo ops.

And, of course, there was the train. You couldn't leave Deer Forest without a ride on the train.

We took Augie there in 2013 before it closed down for good (again). It wasn't the same.

Everything was in disrepair, only some of the talking voiceboxes worked, the animals that were there were afraid of people, trees were fallen and the train was gone. We never tried to go back. It just goes to show you, the only thing that's constant in this world is change.