San Diego Wild Animal Park
San Diego: The day began early with Terry
dialing frantically to Ticketmaster for Jimmy Buffett tickets in Las Vegas,
April 15. (You know, sometimes you must make priorities in your life.) It
was finally determined that tickets went on sale at 10 a.m. Pacific time, so
we headed out to Mark & Debbie's. DT and Mark went on a run – Debbie was
getting dressed and Terry was on their computer frantically clicking
“reload†until finally buying tickets and life could continue. After the run
and showers, we loaded into the BC2 and went out for breakfast before
heading up to the
San
Diego Wild Animal Park.
Your Happy Travelers!
The park is wonderful! If you have not been – get in the car
and drive now. We were guests of Mark and Debbie, as they are members of the
San Diego Zoological Society! First, we took the tram ride around the park.
It was a cooler day, though mostly sunny and the animals were very active –
I could not believe our luck! The tram takes you over the main area of the
park, then out into the Asian and African areas. We saw Asian and African
elephants and rhinos, buffalo, giraffes, okapi, antelope, wart hogs, ant
eaters, cheetahs, lowland gorillas, gibbons, and too many deer-like animals
to mention. Birds of every sort, including flamingos, duck, coots, swans,
cranes and tropical birds. Reptiles. (Even a dead rat being removed by zoo
staff!) Lemurs. Vultures. Taking the tram through the back areas of the park
gave us fantastic views of the animals. They have a very successful breeding
program for Asian rhinos – three babies in residence at this time. A
two-month old baby rhino was running and playing with her mother and brother
– very sweet sight.
Asian Rhino with baby
Lowland Gorilla
After spending the entire day at the park, we went to a
Mexican restaurant and then back to Goldie for some much needed rest! There
is a Valentines Day dance at the campground tonight, with a live band… but
we are being party poopers (we are pooped) and are staying in, watching the
Ducks on satellite. Only bad news today: Colonials lost to LaSalle. Many,
many thanks to Mark and Debbie for a wonderful and memorable day – ‘til the
morrow…