I was driving across the state with some kids, and we pulled off the highway to stop at the National Parks ranger station. The kids might have been my daughter and her friends.
We chatted with the ranger to discuss camping options and looked at a large relief map together. There weren’t a lot of sites available where we were going, as it was mostly desert.
I’m not sure what we decided to do, but we went out back behind the station, and there was a whole enclosed dirt field back there with a barn and stables. We walked around and discovered there were these giant bird-like animals living there.
Their bodies were a little like ostriches, but instead of long necks they had a thick bushy head with a flat face, and these giant round eyes. Their eyes were so wide it gave them a stupid expression like they’re were constantly amazed by what they were seeing.
They were the size of a small horse or cow and walked very slowly. They were also quite gentle and would walk close to us so we’d pet them. One of them walked up to me and really enjoyed me scratching around its neck. I just couldn’t get over how stupid their expressions were.