Wild Animal Park

Gorillas eating.
Meerkats peering.

The three of us spent the day at the Wild Animal Park in Escondido. It’s really part of the San Diego Zoo – just at another location. The zoo seems to have many locations – in some places they breed animals as part of an effort to prevent some breeds from becoming extinct.

A giraffe, seen from the African safari ride.
The lion scratching himself on a tree.

The park is huge and you can take a bus tour to see the area with the giraffes, rhinos, cheetahs, gazelles, etc.

The lion coming VERY close to the glass.
We liked these monkeys who were hanging around.

Morgane loved feeding the lorikeets. You can buy nectar and then you have to hold it tightly and the birds will come and drink it out of the cup. She was patient with the bird that wanted to sit on her head.

Feeding the lorikeets.
Now there's one on my head!

We saw young elephants, giraffes and even a rhino. There was a petting zoo with different African deer-like creatures.

The petting kraal. Morgane is surprised to be licked on the cheek.
Petting a new friend.

We also saw one of the animal ambassadors – a cheetah whose best friend is a dog. The dog was raised with the cheetah and the dog always comes along and makes the cheetah feel safe. He figures that if the dog is okay, he must be okay, too.

Large and small elephants
An elephant family.
Little giraffe.
Giraffe's near a photo caravan.
The lion's favourite nap-spot.
The cheetah, up close.
Rhinos.
Back at the lorikeet feeding.
The animal carousel.

Los Angeles and Glendora

No comment necessary.
Sunset Blvd.

We went to LA for a quick tour and to meet and stay with Ghis’s mom’s cousin, Pierrette. It was a treat – they took good care of us and Carmanah got to hang out with their 14-year old dog. She immediately adopted his igloo in the backyard! Morgane also loved their toys and craft supplies – she was always busy with something.

Carmanah and Morgane both loved the igloo!
He generously subleased his igloo.

We drove through Hollywood, down Sunset Blvd, since it was something I wanted to see. We didn’t know what else to see, so we kept driving through Beverly Hills, Bel Air and all the way to the ocean. We backtracked to Santa Monica and then began the drive back to Glendora, a suburb of L.A. It was pretty rainy, but I did get a quick glimpse of the white hollywood letters on the mountainside.

Ghis's mom's favourite flower, Bird of Paradise, in Pierrette's yard.

L.A. was pretty much what I expected – the worst traffic ever! No matter what time of day we went out, the highways were jammed. It took an absurd amount of time to get anywhere and we were in the HOV (high-occupancy vehicle) lane! I am a saddened by how car-dependent Southern California seems to be.

Jerry talking to the neighbour over the fence.

Our second night, we got to meet Pierrette and Jerry’s kids and their kids and we had a good time. The next day we said goodbye and headed back towards San Diego to go to the Wild Animal Park.

Fresh snow on the mountains near Glendora.
Surprisingly green hills closer to San Diego.