Photos from Day 2

Zander was up first today and crawled into bed with me and Doug from their sofabed. We snuggled for a while, and he chattered with us. I finally decided to get up out of bed and try out the free internet.

Bad idea. Immediately, I found that 2 of my clients had some fairly urgent issues that I needed to take care of. The boys chattered and irritated me because they were being loud and I was unable to think straight. Doug took them to the continental breakfast so I could finish working in peace.

Once they were out of the room, I was able to think clearly and solve each problem in turn. Then I cleared out my inboxes (marked SPAM, deleted stuff that I didn’t need to read, and sent a couple of replies). I got dressed and packed the backpack for the day (3 bottles of water, 1 diet coke, sunscreen, antibacterial gel, flushable wipes, tissues and lip balm).

I headed down to the breakfast just as they were coming back. It was actually pretty good. They had boiled eggs (the one I opened had a nearly all green yolk – yuck), and I ended up toasting a sesame bagel and schmeared it with cream cheese and a cup of hot chocolate. I was sorely tempted by the Lucky Charms, but passed on those.

I brought my breakfast to the pool area, where the boys were wading and ate quickly. We stopped by the room to pick up the backpack and I filled a plastic bag with ice from the ice maker to keep the drinks cool for as long as possible.

Note to self: next trip, bring the backpack cooler and those blue gel ice packs. Oh, and the car boosters – hello?!

Doug went to the office to get directions to the Wild Animal Park. I went back up to the room and grabbed the audio book. It took us 30 minutes to get there. We paid for preferred parking – and got to park in the first 2 rows! Again, so worth it.

From the entrance, I suggested heading straight for the Journey Into Africa safari. It was on the complete other end of the park. Along the way we stopped to see a few animals, but I really wanted to get us to the main attraction first. It was hot. And thankfully, the park was full of misters and quite a few shady spots. And I noted things for us to look for on our way back.

We took the Rift Lift down and had been observing the Air Balloon ride from the moment we got to the park. I wondered how much extra that ride would be. I was shocked to find that it would be $20 EACH for anyone over 2 years old.

Okay, we’re not spending $80 frakking dollars to do that. Hello?! Zevan was SO disappointed. When we passed it after the safari and water playground, he cried for 15 minutes over it. It was so sad. I kind of wanted to carry him over and pass him off as a 2 year old and then maybe just ride with him. But that would have left Zander and Doug out, so I had to hold my ground and let him cry about it. It was so sad.

But back to the safari ride. It was REALLY cool. Zander was a little bit touchy and rude however – I think it was the heat and low blood sugar) – and it was work to try and enjoy the ride despite his attitude.

We saw so many animals, but the saddest story was of the white rhino – there are only 7 left in existence. 2 in San Diego and 5 at the Dvůr Králové Zoo in the Czech Republic. Sadly, these are probably the last of their kind. It turns out that females will only reproduce if they have a female best friend with them. And they keep the same best friend for life. It’s such a sad story.

We saw lots of giraffes, gazelles, antelopes, rhinos, African birds, gnus, ostriches, kudu, zebras and impalas. Our tour did stop briefly for a medical emergency, which turned out to be a young boy in the tram car in front of us who totally lost his lunch. Poor thing. I had been using the quickly melting bag of ice to cool us off during the ride. Otherwise, that might have been us.

After we disembarked from that tour, we planned to grab lunch somewhere to get everyone’s blood sugar to normal, nice levels. On the way we took a detour through the Lion Camp. At first, we were disappointed to see empty display areas. But then we got to the main area and they had just released the lions into the exhibit with hunks of meat. It was a good sized pride – a male, maybe 2 females and lots of cubs. They gave us a good show in the main area. Then they all bounded through all the display areas that we initially found empty. They settled in on the first display we saw, which had a big drum that the male lion sat on, next to the display window, while the others climbed in and on a gutted car there for their play. One cub tried to climb on the drum with dad, only to be roared at and sent back down to the ground, settling on being able to paw at dad. It was AWESOME!

We headed back up, past the balloons (where Zevan had his big tantrum) and then through 2 sets of mister tents, and stopped at the Savanna Cool Zone to cool off. Zander refused, but Zevan got right in there and got soaked. I got wet, too – it was so refreshing. I did pull Zander in there, he was more than reluctant, and then let him go while Zevan and I played around some more. Then we headed up to get lunch. Back up the Rift Lift, there was a snack area at the top. The menu was limited and there was nothing there to interest me or the boys. We consulted our map and headed to Samburu Terrace.

A burger for me, grilled chicken sandwich and Corona for Doug, and chicken tender kids meals for the boys (3 chicken tenders, chips, raisins, animal cookies and small drink – all in a souvenir bucket with souvenir cup – a pretty good deal actually). We had a nice lunch on the terrace overlooking the grounds. Once we were all fed and hydrated, things were nice and happy again.

After lunch, we walked through the Heart of Africa area – okapis, ground hornbills, warthogs, elands, duikers, flamingos, storks and more. What I really wanted to see was the cheetah. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a real live cheetah before. And I got to see a couple of them. Far away, under a fallen tree, and I mostly just saw their heads. It was a little disappointing, but still cool. We even fed the ducks (and catfish).

We headed again back up past the balloon ride and up the Rift Lift. This time we stopped and I bought the boys hats. Zander chose a really cool hat with good sun protection, a floppy brim and neck covering. He looked so cute in it with his big grin. Zevan chose a primary colored baseball cap with a propeller on top. That looked unbelievably adorable.

We passed the gibbons (did you know that males are black and females are tan?) and saw the cutest baby female gibbon. The boys and I went to the Lorikeet Landing and got nectar to feed the lorikeets. Doug has a bit of a bird aversion, so he opted out. The Lorikeets were not shy at all about getting the nectar and the boys were able to feed many of them. However, the birds were a little bit agressive which led to spilled nectar and at one point, a lorikeet grabbed the nectar cup right out of Zevan’s hand.

While I was trying to get him some more nectar from my cup, a lorikeet landed on my shoulder from behind! I brought my cup over to the bird to eat, then held my arm straight to see if he would let go of me. I looked back and he was chewing on the strap of my backpack! Then he walked down my arm to my outstretched hand and started lapping up more nectar. I was freaking out just a little bit. Finally I shook him off, unable to stand it anymore. (A similar thing happened to me at the Budgie Buddies exhibit at the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo – a bird landed on my chest right as I walked into the exhibit with my food stick).

I refilled Zander and Zevan’s cup with my remaining nectar and let them feed the birds some more. It was actually really cute and I think I got some good pictures.

After that we stopped for a root beer float on our way across the park to The Poop Show at the Discovery Center. It was a campy show, a bit too punny but cute for the kids.

After that, we went around lemur island, where we caught a glimpse of a baby lemur, then we got an ice cream cone to share, went back near lemur island to feed the ducks at Zander’s request. I’m not exactly sure when, but we also saw red river hogs, dik-diks, babirusa and more.

Finally we headed out for the day. We got back to the room and no one was hungry for dinner yet, so we all went out to the pool for a swim. It was nice and we were the only ones in the pool for a long time.

After about 45 minutes (maybe more) we all headed up to the room for a shower. We reheated the boys meals from Little Italy the night before and Doug went out to grab Popeye’s for us (lame, I know, but I really think I wanted comfort food). The boys worked on several pages of their workbooks, and then finally went off to bed. Doug went to sleep early, too. And I have been typing this entry (and finishing yesterday’s) ever since.

And now I’m going to bed – tomorrow we are going to the San Diego Zoo!