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| Where'd they go? It's not half as fun anymore! |
After leaving, we still had time in our day, so we went to the Tijuana Slough NWR estuary visitor center. There wasn't much to it. It was very windy.
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| Pretending to be a light-footed clapper rail |
Wittenbergs
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
Natural History Museum
Besides the zoo, this was my other favorite highlight. It was AWESOME! Rod and Charley liked it too.
They had an atrium with a play place for the kids.
Charley always gravitates towards other kids.
Charley and I went to watch an Oceans movie on the big screen. She got REALLY into it - too into it, I feared, for those around us. About 10 minutes in I took her out. She pitched a fit!
They has exhibits on plate tectonics, evolutionary histories of living animals and extinct, skulls, and nature photos.
After leaving, we still had time in our day, so we went to the Tijuana Slough NWR estuary visitor center. There wasn't much to it. It was very windy.
We had our first Mexican supper. So far Indian, Thai, sushi and Mex - not bad!
After leaving, we still had time in our day, so we went to the Tijuana Slough NWR estuary visitor center. There wasn't much to it. It was very windy.
Monday, May 7, 2012
Safari Park
Today we got up and headed to the Safari Park. Owned by the San Diego Zoo folks, and a nice way to spend the day, but not nearly as cool as the zoo (in my opinion). We did get to see a Cheetah run up close, which was awesome, and took a tram around the savannah and saw 2 Northern White Rhinos - there are only 8 remaining in the world, and none in the wild. I had no idea. Very sad.
Here's where we had a glitch in our day. In the botanical garden, Rod went off to look for herps. Charley got tired, hot and bored. She wilted. We went to look for a shady spot to sit and wait. He couldn't find us. We finally met up, about 1.5 hours later. Ugh.
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| Rod took C on the carousel |
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| C wanted to push the stroller herself |
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| Charley climbed rocks while we waited |
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| On the tram |
Sunday, May 6, 2012
San Diego NWR
Rod had a friend who works at San Diego NWR, so one day we bummed around with him on the refuge while he checked up on some endangered California Thornmint, a tiny, rare plant. After meeting at his office, we followed him up into the hills, parked and hiked through coastal scrub, sage and chaparral habitats. We surveyed four locations total, and were soaking wet by the end of the day. Apparently, according to Guy, "Sunny San Diego" is a misnomer, as near the coast it's usually cloudy and gray. This day it was misty and dewey and we were WET! While hiking, Charley and I sat a spell so I could feed her while they hiked up to the last spot. Suddenly a Sheriff's helicopter appeared, flying low, and it zeroed in on our cars, way below, and hovered over them for quite a while. John radioed their law enforcement officer to tell him to call it in and tell them who we were. Border patrol is very prevalent around here.
We left at 2 and went back "home" to shower and get cleaned up. While Rod showered Charley and I hit the pool - she was not a fan. It's been a while since she's seen a pool! That was short lived. Then we drove to Ocean Beach, where John and his wife Sue Ellen live. We had some time before meeting them for supper, so we took Charley to the public beach and let her play. Other than seeing the Mediterranean, this was her only other time to see the ocean.
She was a little unsure of the surf, running from it when the waves lapped near her feet. We then met John and Sue Ellen, and walked downtown to a sushi restaurant. Great times, great conversation, great food, great evening!
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| Detour - a baby AND a dog!!! |
Saturday, May 5, 2012
San Diego - We have arrived!
Rod had a bunch of vacation time he was going to lose if he hadn't used it by the end of the year, so we decided to take a trip to San Diego. His motive - to find the Red Diamond rattlesnake. My motive - to get out of the house for a few days!!!
We left Friday as soon as he got off work. We drove the two hours to Ely, and were going to let Charley play at McDonald's playland before getting back in the car, but they were closed - bummer. So, we had Mexican instead. Luckily, she was pretty tuckered out then, so she promptly went to sleep for the remainder of the drive (which is why we prefer to drive late at night!). We encountered a cow elk on the drive, and several pronghorn on Long Valley road, but nothing else too exciting. We made it to Vegas, checked into our hotel at 1 am, and crashed.
Next morning, Charley and I checked out the free breakfast while Rod slept in a bit. Then, we hit the road. We made it to Barstow, California, and it was time to stop. We had Pizza Hut and then crashed some kind of random party that was going on at a city park we found with a playground. Lots of kids and kid games, but lots of adults enjoying adult beverages, and rockin' Latino music - an interesting mix. No one seemed to mind our presence, and Charley needed to run out some energy, so we joined them!
From there we made it with little incidence to San Diego. Checked into our hotel - California Suites Hotel (a local place I found that worked really well for us) - and went to find some grub. There were tons of ethnic restaurants packed around our hotel, so we found a GREAT little Indian place with YUMMY food. Mmmmm.
The next morning, after Charley and I had continental breakfast in the hotel while Rod slept (this became our routine over the course of the week - she made friends with the staff), we headed to the San Diego Zoo. We arrived at 9:08 - 8 minutes after they opened - and stayed until 6:40 (closing). We've never spent every possible minute of a day at the zoo before! It is a massive zoo!
This is a neat story. Rod, for his MS, went to Ethiopia to look for a snake hardly known (as this info tag explains). He was unsuccessful. This was the first time he's ever laid eyes on one - and they had two!
The petting zoo was a HUGE hit.
Charley's faves included the lion (she signed "sleep" because it was sleeping), meerkat, brown bears, gorillas (like her mama!), giraffes and the birds in the aviaries, the peacocks, ducks and pigeons walking around the open areas (she could walk after them); I couldn't get her to look at the elephant because she was too busy looking at the House Sparrow at her feet (a future birder?); they had a fossa on a leash - they used it for an ambassador program because it was no good for breeding due to enlarged heart and malaligned jaws - and it had a toy stuffed snake. They were having a hard time getting the snake away, so one distracted the fossa while another grabbed the snake and flung it really quickly. Charley broke out in hysterics! I don't know if she was worried for the "snake", sad for the fossa, or what, but we had to take her away she was sobbing so hard! While watching the polar bears, a duck walked right in front of us inside the pen. The bear ran over, stood up on its hind legs and slammed its paws into the glass. I think it scared her a bit, but she liked the bears!
We were all tired after a long day - Charley fell asleep on the way to supper. We had to wake her - lesson learned. Can't eat supper this late again! We had a MISERABLE Thai dinner - she was so cranky! But, it was a great first day in "sunny" San Diego!
We left Friday as soon as he got off work. We drove the two hours to Ely, and were going to let Charley play at McDonald's playland before getting back in the car, but they were closed - bummer. So, we had Mexican instead. Luckily, she was pretty tuckered out then, so she promptly went to sleep for the remainder of the drive (which is why we prefer to drive late at night!). We encountered a cow elk on the drive, and several pronghorn on Long Valley road, but nothing else too exciting. We made it to Vegas, checked into our hotel at 1 am, and crashed.
Next morning, Charley and I checked out the free breakfast while Rod slept in a bit. Then, we hit the road. We made it to Barstow, California, and it was time to stop. We had Pizza Hut and then crashed some kind of random party that was going on at a city park we found with a playground. Lots of kids and kid games, but lots of adults enjoying adult beverages, and rockin' Latino music - an interesting mix. No one seemed to mind our presence, and Charley needed to run out some energy, so we joined them!
From there we made it with little incidence to San Diego. Checked into our hotel - California Suites Hotel (a local place I found that worked really well for us) - and went to find some grub. There were tons of ethnic restaurants packed around our hotel, so we found a GREAT little Indian place with YUMMY food. Mmmmm.
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| Home sweet home for the week! |
The next morning, after Charley and I had continental breakfast in the hotel while Rod slept (this became our routine over the course of the week - she made friends with the staff), we headed to the San Diego Zoo. We arrived at 9:08 - 8 minutes after they opened - and stayed until 6:40 (closing). We've never spent every possible minute of a day at the zoo before! It is a massive zoo!
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| She had to hug them all. |
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| Grandpa, this one's for you! |
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| Tuckered out |
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| We rode this before leaving - it totally freaked Rod out. |
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| Dada you bought me this??? |
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| I LOVE it! |
Charley's faves included the lion (she signed "sleep" because it was sleeping), meerkat, brown bears, gorillas (like her mama!), giraffes and the birds in the aviaries, the peacocks, ducks and pigeons walking around the open areas (she could walk after them); I couldn't get her to look at the elephant because she was too busy looking at the House Sparrow at her feet (a future birder?); they had a fossa on a leash - they used it for an ambassador program because it was no good for breeding due to enlarged heart and malaligned jaws - and it had a toy stuffed snake. They were having a hard time getting the snake away, so one distracted the fossa while another grabbed the snake and flung it really quickly. Charley broke out in hysterics! I don't know if she was worried for the "snake", sad for the fossa, or what, but we had to take her away she was sobbing so hard! While watching the polar bears, a duck walked right in front of us inside the pen. The bear ran over, stood up on its hind legs and slammed its paws into the glass. I think it scared her a bit, but she liked the bears!
We were all tired after a long day - Charley fell asleep on the way to supper. We had to wake her - lesson learned. Can't eat supper this late again! We had a MISERABLE Thai dinner - she was so cranky! But, it was a great first day in "sunny" San Diego!
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