Feb 16 Leaving for San Diego

 We had a 100pm EST flight. We took the Super Shuttle and the drive down the GW parkway was very nice as the snow from the previous week was still visible. 

(the image is of Key Bridge)

We used Frontier Airlines. We had one stop in Denver and arrived in San Diego about 600 pm PST.

Days Hotel

We stayed at Days Hotel which is located very close to the interchange between I-5 and I-8.

It is also only about 5 miles from the airport, 3 miles from Sea World and 2 miles from the San Diego Zoo.

Feb 17 San Diego Zoo

The zoo (also sea world and the safari) has lots of photo ops.

We took one with the two of us with a lion and one with the two of us and a bear.

Animals at the Zoo - Elephants

We saw elephants both at the zoo and at the safari.








The ones at the zoo had an artificial tree and some of their food got hung from the tree.

San Diego Zoo - Panda and Gorilla

They have several pandas at the zoo. The first image has their largest panda - he needs a lot of rest. They had a lot of bamboo nearby - apparently there are 300+ species of bamboo.







 


The second image (taken through plexiglass is of a gorilla sleeping.

M posing at zoo and safari

I got to pose with some 'animals'.

Feb 17 San Diego Old Town Historical Park

We left the zoo and drove about 5 miles to the Old Town Historical Park.


The first image is a restored hotel (no longer used for that).



The second is a restored transit station (also no longer used for that).




The third is Ann near a covered wagon.




The area also has some nice taverns. We had a few beers at a place called Barra Barra underneath a wisteria overhang.

Feb 18 - Sea World - The Shamu

Sea World was only about 3 miles from the motel.

I rode the rafting and gondola at this venue and of, course, we saw lots of animals.

Speaking of animal, the Shamu is a killer whale. In fact Sea World had, during our visit, about 7 in the Shamu family.

In the first image, we are at the entrance to the Shamu tank. I am holding a poncho which is to protect us during the water show when the whale splashes.





The next image is of the whale close up but looking through the tank.





The final image is Shamu jumping (by the way I got that image from the internet) while two other Shamu are on the deck with the trainers. 

Feb 18 at Sea World - friendly animals

The two most friendly animals there at Sea World include the Manta Bay Ray (first image) and the dolphins (second image).



The manta rays don't mind being petted and since their mouth is on the bottom (facing the floor), they couldn't bite even if they wanted to.

The dolphins seems to really enjoy being watched. 




There was a dolphin show also (third image - from the internet). The dolphins are good at simultaneous jumping and splashing (some of the seats at the dolphin stadium as designated as in the splash zone),

Feb 18 Sea World - Underwater animals

There are numerous individual tanks at Sea World.



The first image is of a giant turtle as seen from below.




The second image shows two sharks crossing our path - also from below.

Feb 18 Sea World - Sea LIons

Sea Lions and Seals seem to get along well and they are in the same tank (the sea lion has the larger front flippers).




They have a very large pool with rocks and also get visits from the birds in the park (2nd and 3rd image).







The swimmers in the 3rd image are, I think, seals.

Feb 18 Sea World Rides

I rode two rides while at Sea World.

The first was the gondola (first image - from internet). It goes up to about 150 feet above the water and takes you to a point south of Sea World and then back (its about a 10 minute trip). I had to wait about 20 minutes for this ride.


The second ride was the rafting. I had my poncho so I only got a little wet (people get to spray water on you when you pass). I waited only about 20 seconds in line for this one since it was near to the end of the day (after the various dolphin and killer whale shows).

Feb 18 - La Jolla

North of San Diego is La Jolla (meaning either 'the jewel' or 'the holes').

It was about a 6 minute drive from Sea World.

La Jolla is the home of Scripps Institute, the University of California at San Diego and SAIC.

It is quite picturesque and upscale (as seen in the second image).

Even the stores are very, very pretty (3rd image)

We went in the pm after sea world and the light wasn't particularly good for pictures (the images are from the internet).

Feb 19 Safari San Diego

Safari San Diego is actually a few miles east of Escondido or about 35 miles north northeast of San Diego.



There a lot of animals, a lot of interesting plants, a lot of places to relax.


The first image is from a a map of the safari park. The park is pretty big, over 1800 acres (as a comparison, NY's Central Park is about 840 acres).  You get into the park from the southwest near the long winding lake.



The second image is part of that long winding lake. There are a lot of wild birds that reside on or about the lake.




In addition, there are a lot of gift shops and restaurants around the lake.




The third image is from the ridge (called Condor Ridge) which is on the northwest of the park (light blue on the map with green on one side and pink and orange on the other.

The image shows there is a valley between this ridge and the ridge in the background. The ridge in the background is the eastern boundary of the park.  The ridge from where I took the picture has lots of native California plants. In this case cacti of various kinds.

The 4th image (from the internet) is one on a clearer day than we had and thus better foreground. The giraffes are in their own little valley (various portions of the valley are separated to keep predators and prey apart). You get to the giraffe valley by a tram (vehicle with viewing cars).



The final image is me enjoying a 32 ounce draft beer in the 'village' of shops and restaurants near the winding lake.

We spent most of the day at the park (from about 930am to about 430 pm) because there was so much to do.

Feb 19 Safari Park - Predatory Birds

The first image shows that we each had a map of the safari park.




 
This was important because Ann didn't want to walk up the Condor ridge and I did. So we decided where to meet (it was the place I got the 32 ounce beer - note the previous image).




 

One of the things they had on condor ridge was an area where injured birds are kept and cared for.  


The second image shows some sort of hawk.






The third image shows an eagle. The sign indicates that the bird is injured and can't fly.


 



   
Apparently, this bird actually had multiple injuries.

The fourth and fifth image has a injured condor. This bird is a predator but also eats dead creatures.










The final image (from the internet) is of a vulture.





The vultures are not up on the ridge. Instead they are in the valley near the giraffes, elephants and lions. 


The vulture is almost entirely a dead creature eater - as the guide told us on the safari tram, "its a tough job but someone has to do it".
.

Feb 19 Safari Park - Big Animals

Most people go to the safari park to see the really big animals.

The first image shows two lions playing near an abandoned car. For some reason, the lions seem to like being around the car.

The second image shows a close up of the female lion (through plexiglass). 

The first image was taken on our way to the safari tram. The second image was taken on the way back from the tram.

The third image is a water buffalo.


The fourth image has two elephants. The baby (about 6 months old) is in the background. Baby elephants weigh 150-200 pounds on the day they are born (gasp). They then gain about a pound a day. This baby already weighed about 1000 pounds.

An older male who was born in 2004 and so was about 9 years old at the time of this image, is near the water. This elephant weighed about 3000 pounds. 

The guide said that elephants don't usually breed until they are about 12 or 13 but this guy seems ready.

Feb 19 Farewell to Safari Park

We left the park at about 430pm. We said goodbye to water scenes, like the flamingos at the winding lake.

And we said goodbye to the desert scenes, like the cacti (the one with all the branches is called a candlelabra cactus) in the foreground with the mountains in the background.

Feb 19 Sunset at Point Loma

I drove out to Point Loma from Safari Park (about a 40 minute drive).


All the images on this page are from the internet.

This point was about 5 miles from the hotel and a nice place to watch the sun set over the Pacific.

One of beaches near the point is called 'dog beach' and people with dogs are allowed to have their dogs run around on the beach and run
(or swim) in the ocean at this beach.