San Diego Zoo's Wild Animal Park

“Penguins mate for life. That doesn't surprise me much because they all look alike. It's not like they're going to meet a really new, great looking penguin someday.” - Anonymous (okay, so there were no penguins at the Wild Animal Park - but this is funny, so I used it anyway)

Entrance to the park!

Our second full day in San Diego we drove up to Escondido to check out the Wild Animal Park (formerly Safari Park).  We didn't do anything crazy as far as special tours are concerned (but if you go there they do have some cool options, definitely worth checking out if you have the extra money), we just walked around the park all afternoon.  The park is gigantic.  What they have the most of are birds - lots and lots of beautiful and unique looking birds.  Elijah almost got hit in the face by one, which was good for a laugh.  

He looks meaner than he actually was.

Each park admission ($37) includes unlimited carousel and tram rides.  The safari tram (the free one) just winds up and about the more sprawling exhibits where you don't walk.  You will see a ton of different kinds of antelope - but after I have seen seven variations of basically the same thing, I was no longer excited them.  The big ticket animals are on this tour, too: cheetahs, lions, rhinos, giraffes, etc... 

View from a higher vantage point before walking down to take the Safari tram.  It really was a nice park!  This is only a small part of it.

Baby animal!  The giraffes were really pretty.  There was another tour of people with way more money than we common folks that was right up next to some of the giraffes feeding them.  It looked pretty cool.

I just thought this was a funny picture because it seems like it would be so awkward for them to even have to take a drink!

This is a Northern White Rhino.  Which may seem like any other rhino, except there are only seven of this species known to be remaining on the entire planet.  They are hoping to make some strides in fertility assistance to these massive creatures before they are all gone.

This cheetah seriously did not move for about an hour (because we came back around later).

This was really cool because we were only about four feet away from two huge lionesses.  Of course, there was a barrier in between, but still.  Look at how huge that paw is!

The king checking out his kingdom.

No trip to the zoo would be complete without members of the primate family.  When we went to see the gorillas, we were initially disappointed because there were just two WAY in the back picking bugs off of each other and you could barely see them...but then one emerged from the bottom of the cavern and another came out from a cave.  

After we were standing there for a few this big dude came out from the cave and started people watching.  I wonder what they think of us...hmm.

Here were the initial two we could see.  After a while he decides he is bored and walks away, heading into his cave (just like a real man) and leaving her alone in the corner.  

She then proceeded to start rolling around looking completely helpless and confused (just like a real woman).  It was pretty funny.

Not a gorilla (obviously) but so flippin' adorable!

Here are some other random shots from the day:

I watched the meerkat habitat for awhile - they made me laugh a lot.  Such personalities!

Every time I see a lemur forever now I am going to think of the movie Madagascar.  "I like to move it, move it!"

They had quite a few elephants at the park - including some babies.  So huge!

The end!

La Jolla Sea Caves

“Man cannot discover new oceans unless he has the courage to lose sight of the shore.” - Andre Gide

The first stop Elijah and I made was San Diego, California.  Our mom was supposed to come with us, so rather than CouchSurfing we stayed in a hotel in La Mesa.  It was decent - but nothing to write home about (or blog about...).  Our first night we were pretty sleepy - we just ate a Mexican place next door to our hotel and took it easy (I was pretty sick with a terrible sore throat/head cold/achy all over deal).  

Day two started the real fun!  We had booked a tour through San Diego Bike and Kayak Tours for 10:30am.  We went with the combination kayak/snorkel tour which turned out to be AWESOME.  It basically went like this:  arrive at the place which was near the beach in La Jolla, sign up/pay/etc..., get your gear (they include your snorkeling stuff, full wetsuit, fins and a life jacket in your price) and wait for the other people on your tour to show up and get ready, too.  We (thankfully) had a very small tour - just the two of us, a girl (Bridget) from the east coast and our tour guide Chip!  We walked down to the beach and got some basic kayak instruction (Elijah and I have never kayaked before) and then poof - off into the ocean!  

All suited up and ready to get in the water!

Listening to the tour guide explain to us about the fault line we were staring at...

On the way out to the caves!

After about a 45-60 minute kayak trip we reached the point at which we could anchor our kayaks and snorkel about.  On the way out I saw some Garibaldi (the state marine fish of California), but it was nothing compared to how many were swimming about near the caves!   We put on our snorkeling stuff and got in the water (which I thought was freezing initially despite it supposedly being the warmest it had been all year)!  I have snorkeled anywhere but a swimming pool, so this was pretty much amazing for me.  Not to mention I have never been to the ocean as an adult...and I got to experience it for the first time like this!  We were happily snorkeling about when we got a pretty amazing surprise!

Elijah and Chip hanging out in one of the caves we entered.

A blurry Elijah and I just hanging out in the ocean!

One of the several Garibaldi I saw swimming about!

This was one of the most stunning things I saw while snorkeling.  It was so vivid...just these huge colonies of BRIGHT green sea grass!

How could you do anything but smile while doing something this cool?

Surprise! A sea lion was just sun bathing and hanging out on a rock that was jutting out into the water =)

Elijah and I with "Big Poppa" as our tour guide affectionately referred to him.  Below is a video I took of him chillin'.

After taking way too many just the right number of pictures of the sea lion, we moved on into a cave.  It was huge inside and opened up in the back to a sort of cove which was spectacular.  We played in the cave for awhile (well, Elijah played, I got thrown into some rocks and had to be rescued by Chip) and just looked at the different fishies!

Playing underwater with the camera!

I was not sure it was possible for my lips to look any bigger - but wrapped around that snorkel they look like some type of freaky alienesque face attachment! Yikes!

As we were exiting the cave through the back we went through Emerald Cove - aptly named due to the beautiful sea grass I mentioned earlier. 

More of the grass with some pretty little flowers, too.

One of my favorite shots from the day - it is like an entirely different world down there.  So calming and peaceful.

After hanging around a bit longer in the water, it was sadly time to head back to shore.  First we had to maneuver back into our kayaks...this was the about the only part of it that I was more adept at than Elijah.  Luckily I was the one holding the camera.  I took a picture - but should have taken a video.  It was pretty funny. 

By this point he had actually made it most of the way in... and I had probably ingested too much ocean water from laughing uncontrollably. 

 

As we were heading back to shore we found this enormous piece of kelp - which for those of you who have never seen it, it is crazy!  It was SO big and also really hard.  It was attached under the water, but I was able to pick a piece of it up and get a picture while our guide was explaining to us how to get back to shore (maybe if I would have listened to him instead of photographing marine life I would not have tipped over in a big wave and eaten a face full of sand...oops [again, good thing I had the camera and not Elijah]).

The guide was pretty sure this was the female piece - if you could have seen the piece he was holding you would see why he was sure that was the male piece. =)  It was so shiny, too.  If you look closely you can see my face reflected in it. 

All in all it was an amazing experience that I would recommend to anyone not afraid of the water.  Certainly a far cry from a corn field.  The company we took our tour through was awesome, and so was Chip, our tour guide!

Yay Chip!

So glad we got to do this together, brother!

All In the Family

“Family is the most important thing in the world.” - Princess Diana

No visit to Arizona would be complete without seeing my family, of course.  On Wednesday night Troy's mother Ruth hosted a family dinner at her house.  Troy's whole family was there, so I got to see all of them, which was nice.  Briana and I stayed the night by ourselves (being the super cool big sister I am I kept her out of school for a few hours the next morning) and it was great.  She is growing up so fast.  Those of you who know her would not even believe it.  It was so nice being able to spend that time together.  Definitely a highlight of my trip!  

I told you!  Look how old (and beautiful) she is! 

My poor mom had to have a tooth pulled that afternoon - so her smile is not full on.  Never fear, she was ecstatic to hang out with me - who wouldn't be?!

A trio of very good looking siblings, in my humble opinion. =) I love my brother and sister!

Well, that's that for Arizona!  California here we come!

I Get By With a Little Help From My Friends...

“Truly great friends are hard to find, difficult to leave, and impossible to forget.” - Anonymous

The whole reason I started even looking at taking a trip in the first place was because I needed to be in Arizona the weekend of October 1st for a very special reason...my college room mate, the lovely Miss Amanda Palumbo is getting married!! next summer and I was lucky enough to get asked to be in the bridal party.  Since we are all scattered about, Amanda asked us to all come to Arizona for the weekend to do bridesmaid type things - like pick out our dresses for the wedding!  I was able to meet Ashley - another bridesmaid who has been friends with Amanda since I left for Purdue and I have never had the pleasure of meeting.  She was great and I am so happy I finally got to meet her!  Of course my fellow penguin lover Janelle was there (along with Dustin) from Wisconsin, too.  The wedding next summer is going to be fabulous!  

I also got to meet the future Mr. Palumbo - Bret.  I had not had the pleasure of meeting him yet, but he was nice enough to let me stay with he and Amanda for the entire week I was there...and put up with all of us women being around for several days in a row.  I found him to be delightful, funny, intelligent and kind.  Welcome to our crazy family, Bret!  

The future Mr. and Mrs. Bret Laster-Loftus!  Precious!

My first full day in Arizona was spent pool side with Amanda, Ashley and some other friends.  It was over 100 degrees outside - so we thoroughly enjoyed the water (especially since Ashley and I both came from the midwest chilliness)!  It was a fun day!

We were quick friends!  (Look at that water!)

Lovely weather, lovely pool and lovely ladies!

The first night Ashley was there she and I got dolled up and headed out to Mill Ave.  I did not take my camera with, so I will have to wait on Ashley to upload hers.  But I met Alex's little brother Josh out, as well as my friend Bryce.  We had a great time!

Saturday Janelle and Dustin arrived and we went dress shopping (also did not have my camera for that).  That night we all went to dinner and were joined by our good friend Ana!  I only have one picture of that night and it did not turn out...but when other pictures go up on Facebook I will add them in!

Sunday we went to a BBQ at Jared's (Bret's best man) condo.  He and his fiance Kelly were sweet enough to invite all of Amanda's out of town guests to come along - so we did!  It was a lovely time and we all enjoyed ourselves.  That night Ana invited Janelle, Dustin and I to go salsa dancing.  It didn't last too long...but at least we looked smashing!

From left to right: Myself, Ana and Janelle.  This was just outside of the dance studio we went to for the salsa dancing.

Ana and I playing around in the car while Dustin was kind enough to cart us all around.

I love my Nello! 

So when I went home to change clothes so we could go out clubbing - Amanda decided to join us!  Woo!  

All four ladies out at Zuma on Mill Ave.

Drinkin' up at Martini Ranch in Old Town Scottsdale.  We had a lot of fun dancing here - I had never been! 

 

On my last night in Arizona - long after Janelle, Dustin and Ashley were all gone...Amanda, Bret, Bryce and I all went out to Pattie's in Old Town.  We had a fabulous time - especially since my tab was 1/2 what it should have been (cheers to being a girl)! 

Well this one is a little blurry (or maybe it was Amanda's vision...), but it is the only one I have with Bryce - so here it is anyway!

I love you Palumbo - I miss you so much already!  Thanks for everything!

The Grand Canyon State!

Disclaimer:  If you don't want to see a lot of mountains - you can skip this one.  I LOVE the mountains, and I took plenty of pictures because a good number of you have never been west.  This is just a random smattering of them. 

Yay!!

For those of you who don't believe Arizona has much green - here is a national forest in northern Arizona.  It is completely covered with coniferous trees. You can see the winding road I drove along...stunning.

My first saguaro sighting!

Completely majestic - how did I end up back in the land of the corn again?

One of the mountain roads I take on the way into The Valley.  The view is obviously lame...

I warned you there were lots of mountains - but they are so amazing!

Another mountain view from the drive into The Valley.  I always forget just how beautiful it truly is.  I never tire of it.

That's it for the drive in to Arizona.  I don't want to overload you with pictures of mountains!  Seriously though, I love it here...so much.