Jambo!

Zoo Trilogy

Day 3
Tuesday, October 9, 2012

We were up and ready early enough in the morning that the line for waffles was fairly short, so I made a couple of them.  One of them was kinda jacked up because I forgot to spray the skillet first, but at least I didn't leave any batter on it when I left.  They also had hard-boiled eggs still available, so I was good to go.  We finished packing up our belongings and made our way over to Safari Park.  Since it was a weekday, there were only a few other cars in the parking lot, so we were able to close to the entrance, even if we didn't use our placard.

I haven't been here since I was a little girl, so I wasn't familiar with the surroundings at all.  The kids wanted to take a picture on the big shiny rhino, so they did that, and Brady also wanted a picture by the elephant.  Today was a day of "Brady smiles for pictures in a regular way" instead of being all goofy-like.  Well, for most of them.  

Rhiding the Rhino

We found some reptiles for Miss O to admire, and I saw a chinchilla that reminded me of Yoda.  There were cute places all along the pathway to take pictures.  One of the displays was of bat-eared fox ears so that you could get a sense of what the fox can hear.  Brady read the sign to me, and I was overwhelmed by the way he so easily read the word "enable".  That's not a word that most 7-year-olds can just rattle off, you know.

Bat-Eared Fox Kits

They had an area that appeared to be a place for African family entertainment.  Look, a very tall drum!  They must have very tall people in Africa.  Or maybe the giraffes play this when they're not fighting each other with their long necks.

Somebody needs a boost

Of course, when I saw that the bat exhibit, I could not resist going inside.  Yay, bats!  Brady was very excited to take this picture.  So was Tita Sherry.

Bat Crazy

We walked into the Rainbow Lory aviary, but didn't buy any food to place on our arms to attract the birds.  I'd rather just watch that happen to someone else, thanks.  The birds were beautiful, but I kept getting startled when one would just fly by me.  

We took a gander at the savannah before taking the elevator down to catch the Africa Tram.  I wish that we had the time and money to take a more close-up tour. I would become a member if I lived in the right zip code to afford it.  On our way to the tram, a lion and his lionesses were hanging out nearby, taking over the no-longer-working jeep.  The lioness looked at me just as I was about to take a picture, so that was cool.  More animals posing for Sherry!  

Purrrr

Our bus driver/guide had a lot of interesting stuff to share, like how the zebras kept fighting for the food, so they had to isolate them.  She said that this is a known personality trait.  MIss O fell asleep, but Brady was sitting in the sun, so he wasn't as comfortable as she was.  Every animal reminded me of a game I play on Facebook, so it was neat to see the animals in real life.   Afterward, we were all pretty hungry, so we had some lunch at a cafe near the tram stop.  

Mom had promised to get slushies for the kids, so they enjoyed that for a while before we walked some more around the park.  I had taken a short detour on the Tiger Trail, but it seemed to go much farther than my party was willing to walk, so I didn't take the whole trail.  Instead, we walked around the exhibits, and saw Winston the gorilla.  He was picking up leaves in each of his 4 hands/feet.  I tried not to look into his eyes because he's shy and I didn't want to piss him off.  I don't think I'd want people staring at me all of the time, so I looked for his kids.  

Winston Gathering Leaves

Miss O and Brady loved seeing the different kinds of ducks, as well as the flamingos.  This duck type appears to have a pompadour hair style.  Those red eyes are not a camera error, by the way.  They're demon Elvis ducks!

Demon Elvis Duck

I loved that there were animal babies everywhere.  Here's a baby flamingo with the teenagers and a momma.

Mingers

  I loved watching the meerkats pop their heads out of the different holes that they had dug.  

Timon!

Mom and Dad were tired of walking, so they let me go off on my own, and I went to the Tiger Trail.  The terrain was rough, so it was good that they didn't come with me, although Brady did try and then he changed his mind.  I saw one of the tigers for a brief moment while he was walking around, but he was far away from us, which I guess is a good thing, being that he is a wild carnivore and all of that.  I also checked out the elephants.  They had a big family of elephants there, and I just had to get lots of pictures of the newest baby elephant.  So cute!

Baby Phant

I then wanted to take a look at the California Condors, so I walked that way as well, and saw a couple of bald eagles on the way.  I also saw a Western Harris Hawk, which is the type of hawk whose baby was in my yard one day.  Those condors are HUGE!  A couple of times, they flew a little bit, and the motion kicked up some wind toward us.

Hey, look!  One last hippo!

Somehow in the heat I found my way back to the park entrance.  I don't know how, because I was hot and tired and walked in the wrong direction a couple of times, but I guess I followed whatever sign I eventually found.  Miss O walked up to me so that I could carry her back to the car, and we made our way back to my parents' house.  Miss O was knocked out and couldn't even wake up to say goodbye to me.  I went home shortly afterward, exhausted from the 3 days of walking around, but happy to have spent a fun time with my family.