Over the years, as parents we have spent most of any leftover money to vacations with the kids. To us, experiences are the best value of all. As a family we have been to several places – Mount Rushmore, Devil’s Tower, Bear Country, Jewel Cave, The Badlands, Deadwood, Needles Highway, Lake Erie, Put-in-Bay, the Jersey Shore, New York City, Virginia Beach, Emerald Isle, Nashville, Chicago, Wisconsin, Niagara Falls, Ottawa, Montreal, the top of Mount Mansfield, Vermont, and … Parc Omega.
I could easily rank these places and as right now, Parc Omega might be top on my list. It was certainly one of the most expensive experiences, but it was completely worth it. We are a large group of seven, no we needed to stay at the largest of the lodges at the property, but it was the one to give you an experience with the wolves.
On one side of the lodge, there was a full wall of windows to see the wolves that live in the park at all time. When we booked the place, I was worried that the wolves wouldn’t be visible that much. I was completely wrong because I had nothing to worry – the wolves were right in front of us almost all of the time.
There was also a feeding time at 7:10 to see the whole pack together. There were also bears to see as well!
But then there’s more lol! That night at the lodge, at 11pm, the wolves started to howl. Heads up and mouths agape, they were howling to the sky. It was an amazing thing to hear. The only thing I regret that evening is not getting a better video to share the howling.
We were woken up by 6am again by more howling, in the midst of an ethereal mist.
So as if the whole evening and morning wasn’t already a magical event, we started our day with this:
To feed the animals!! They all drove up to our cars and we fed them bags of carrots. It was hilarious and beautiful to have such an amazing interaction with nature.
I promise that I’m not getting some kind of fee for writing this post about our time at Parc Omega. Putting together this memory was for me. And for my kids. And for when I’m having a bad day, to remind myself about the good things. Because that day wasn’t just a good day, it was one of the best days.
Kate Minear Sorenson 