Day 8 and 9 (Monday and Tuesday)

So this was another donkey related day for our trip, pretty much our whole trip revolved about Donkeys in one way shape or form.  We got up early and were on the road by 8 am, destination Oatman, Arizona. I  heard of Oatman the first time from a blogger friend who was there and fell in love with donkeys after she had met the local herd in that little old deserted mining town. First evidence of roaming donkeys was poop way outside the town, we recognize this stuff anywhere and got excited as soon as we saw it lol...doesn't take much, does it? Driving up into the town Mr. Jack is overseeing everything, who comes and goes.

He is the only Jack in town with about eight jennets plus various foals he has fathered. There were a lot of babies and they were so adorable.

Oatman's  "Wild Burros" are just as stated here...Wild. They come and go as they please. There is usually about a dozen of them that show up in town and wander the streets.  In the United States the donkey has been used as a beast of burden and for the breeding of mules, which are hybrids produced by mating mares and jackasses. Small donkeys, or burros, played a major role as pack animals in opening up the western United States. While there are the few Burros that do come to town regularly the hills surrounding Oatman, Arizona there reside many wild burros and different herds of them. These burros are direct descendants from the Gold Miners that brought them to the area as pack animals. Then the coming of World War 2 when the gold mines surrounding Oatman and Gold Roads, Arizona were shut down the burros were set free to roam the hills.

Another great souvenir, but no space in our car  let alone my suitcase.

Oatman Street Gang

Mobbing people with food.

Ear scratches are just as great for donkeys as carrrots and treats, and much more healthier.
This little guy just loved his ear scratch from Terri.

Foal resting in the shade along the road.

The gang moves on, spotting another person with treats.

Breastfeeding in public.

Snack on the side of the road

Store owner chasing the donkeys away.

Coming up with a new plan

Coming in for an earscratch!

We did enjoy our visit with the donkeys and the store owners in Oatman, we made some good connections and will soon be featuring some items made my Oatman's finest and craftiest people. The stories we heard from some of the store owners were sad, like people coming in and stealing the cute donkey foals leaving the moms to scream and cry for them for days, the BLM coming in to take the foals out because they don't want the herd get any bigger than 12 donkeys. There were also the stories of people's ignorance  doing stupid things to get great photo opps. People are really just dumb when it comes to animals and they don't give them the respect they should have for them. 

We just enjoyed watching the donkeys, petting them, giving them ear scratches and seeing the bliss they found in that. No Treats from  us, but apparently the BLM now discourages the feeding of these animals and fines will be given if caught feeding these animals. It is for the health and safety of the burros and for the safety of the tourists as well. AMEN to that!

After our visit in Oatman we were on the way back to Vegas, crossing the beautiful Colorado River and enjoying much more mountain scenery. This time we spent the night at the Grand MGM Hotel, but it was straight to bed as we were leaving Las Vegas around 10 in the morning. 
I got a few great shots of Vegas as we were going up in the air. 

 After that there wasn't much to see until we landed in Buffalo.

HOME AGAIN!