You know you don't live in the city...

...when you go for a drive, not more than ten minutes from your house, and you come across someone raising six bison and another someone raising a herd (literally) of caribou/reindeer. We have known about the bison for a long time and take the kids for a drive to see them from time to time. Yesterday we extended our drive a bit further and stumbled upon 30 or more reindeer. They were right up against the fence, eating, and we couldn't decide what they were. Smaller than an elk and thicker, shorter than a standard deer, but big furry antlers (my dad informed me they were furry because they were immature and that it was called their "velvet" antlers) and white butts. It was Greg who first suggested they might be reindeer and I essentially called him crazy. Reindeer only live on the Alaska tundra and Siberian plains. right?

The next step was consulting my dad, a person who grew up in the wilderness and knows about such things. After describing them he said they sounded like caribou. We looked caribou up on Wikipedia and it said caribou is the term for wild, North American reindeer. And the picture looked just like our local animals. Oh, and in case you are wondering, they are not native to Liberty Lake, they are native to areas much further north. I hope to talk to the owners someday and find out how on earth they came to have them. In the meantime we are enjoying our own private zoo, just down the road.