View Day 2 here.
View Day 3 here.
On Thursday, we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park. I remember going at least once before, but that was when I was a kid.
The Wild Animal Park is a unique zoo in that it's in a semi-arid environment, so there is a focus on Asian plains, African, and mountain habitats. No polar bears here.
The most popular aspect of the zoo is the Journey into Africa tram ride. You basically ride around open-range enclosures where giraffes, rhinos, gazelles, antelope, deer, zebras, buffalo, ostriches, and many more animals roam around freely in environments that they are familiar with. Think of it as a giant safari ride. Speaking of, you can even book your own privately guided Safari tour for a much closer encounter with the animals.
Small island seen on the tram ride. The birds can safely lay their eggs on there.
A variety of animals roaming around what I think is the North African area of the tour.
A couple of giraffes hanging out by the trees with ostriches in the background.
After the tram ride, we wandered over to the Heart of Africa section and Julie made herself a colorful bead bracelet.
From that point on, we basically went around the zoo visiting all the different exhibits. There is so much to see, we didn't have time for about 30% of the park.
They have a thing called the Balloon Safari that you can pay extra for. It takes you up for a high view of the safari lands.
Looking down at the beginning of the Journey into Africa tram ride. I think I heard our guide say that the area alone is 900 acres. I believe that's not including the main grounds of the park.
One of our favorite exhibits was the Lorikeet Landing. You can purchase nectar before going in which the birds can drink by landing on your hand. We did not buy any, but the lorikeets still came up to us thinking we might have some.
Another area we enjoyed was the Petting Kraal. Julie was brave enough to pet the animals and feed them leaves. =)
They have a nice carousel at the park which we took Julie on twice. The first time, she wanted to ride this tiger, and the second time she rode a zebra.
We had such a good time, but we were totally wiped by the end of the day.
For dinner, we met up with my uncle Randy and aunt Susy in Escondido at Cenote Grill which is a fantastic, small Mexican restaurant.
Mom and I took my cousin's advice an ordered the Cenote Burrito with carne asada and served enchilada style. It was the best burrito I've ever had and blows Chipotle out of the water.
My aunt and uncle have about 30 orange trees on their property that have ripe fruit year around. They are just about the best oranges I've ever consumed. I wish I could have a tree or two at home. We made fresh orange juice one morning for breakfast and now Tropicana and Minute Maid and all those other orange juices are ruined for me.
That's it for Day 4. Sorry it's taking me so long to get these pictures out, but I seriously have 1,229 to sort through, edit, upload, and tag. Days 5-8 should be posted soon. Click here to see all of the pictures I've uploaded from San Diego so far.
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