San Diego Safari Park

I'm so sorry for the delay in posting about the rest of our week in San Diego. Here we go: Day 4 - the San Diego Safari Park!

Peyton was really excited to see all the animals and boy, did we see a ton of them! The park started as the breeding ground for the San Diego Zoo. The animals were brought here, mated, and any resulting offspring were cared for until they were ready to display at the Zoo. Eventually, they decided to open it to the public and keep animals in this expansive "wonderland".

 We started off by going through a section of birds, including these lovely flamingos.

 

Then, it was off to the gorillas. The beautiful gorillas, including a baby one, stole Peyton's heart. He loved watching them. Sorry little man, it'll be a while before you grow to even be close to the size of a gorilla!

 

Peyton wanted to stay longer, but we had so much more to see. I convinced him to move on, and we got to walk through the lemur cage (no pictures) and made our way to the hot air balloon. This particular balloon stays tethered at all times while it ascends 400 feet into the sky and gives an incredible view of the entire Safari Park. We had to wait to get on which gave me an opportunity for this selfie. :-)

We were able to get on the next ride, and up we went! What an incredible view! And, Peyton immediately spotted the elephants. It really is a beautiful park!

Happy at 400 feet!

Our next stop? Why, the elephants, of course. The baby elephant was so cute!!

Then, we made our way to see the tigers. They are building a new tiger habitat which will be bigger and will give a better view of the tigers. The old habitat is still in use, while they complete the new one. So, the view wasn't great. But, it was interesting to learn that these were Sumatran tigers (I had expected Bengals). Peyton has a tiger book so we know that there are five species currently still found in the wild. He loved that he got to see Sumatran tigers and immediately resolved to be a tiger for Halloween. You'll just have to wait and see if that idea stuck when we revisited Halloween recently. :-) It's not the best picture (because of the cage), but there's a tiger sleeping on the platform below. Another one was asleep by the cave in the background.

After the tigers, Peyton decided he wanted to see the lions. From one vicious cat to another... Along the way, we saw the balloon up in the air again and walked past a few giraffes.

Peyton was on a mission to see the lions, so he didn't let me stop to take many pictures. But, this stopped him in his tracks! Ah, the lions!

 Well, it turns out that lions sleep for 18-20 hours a day. They are most active in the early morning and in the late evening. And so, we found them sleeping at 11am. It's tough to be a lion. ;-)
 

 A third lion had been sleeping in the white Range Rover in the background. She woke up after a little while, and joined the others. So regal!

The male woke up when she came over and he woke up the other lioness. My goodness, he was massive! [Funny/awkward story: As I mentioned above, the Safari Park was started as a breeding grounds and, well, the animals are still "at it". You can see how close we were behind the 6-8 inch glass, so we got a front row seat to the "show". I did take a picture that I immediately sent to James so that we could both be prepared to answer any questions. But, none came. The crowd around us all started laughing, nervously, as there were quite a few children present. It all seemed to have gone over Peyton's head. It's two months later and he still hasn't mentioned it.] Peyton was so happy to have gotten the chance to see the lions wake up and walk around. :-)

Next, it was off to ride on the tram to get a view of the open prairie lands. After all that walking, it was nice to sit for a little while and see the animals. We were lucky to see the cheetahs (napping in that tree) as it was almost time for the staff to come and get them for the daily "Cheetah run" race.

We saw so many amazing animals: more flamingos, rhinos, wildebeests, warthogs, gazelles, antelope, giraffes and plenty of birds flying overhead. I love the picture of Peyton looking up at a bird.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then, we took a break for lunch. Peyton really liked the telescopes around the Park. I didn't have change on me, so he couldn't use them. But, he still enjoyed getting up and looking "through" them.

And, then it was back to the lions. Oh look, they were all asleep again....

We were getting pretty tired too, and Peyton asked to go back to the gorillas, but I took him the "long" way so we could see a few more animals (yes, more flamingos) before going back to the gorillas.

We got to see an Okapi (asleep) which was exciting as Peyton has a jungle puzzle at home that prominently features an Okapi. :-)

Then, it was back to see the gorillas and say goodbye. My battery was running low, but I managed to get a few more pictures in of these lovely Silverbacks.

 

What an amazing day! Peyton was so happy, albeit tired. And, I managed to take over 150 pictures that day (which is why my battery died).

He still talks about it fairly often, and can't wait to go back and show James all the animals!

SeaWorld

Wednesday was another special day in San Diego. During the months leading up to our trip, I gave Peyton options of what we could do there (that would require me to research and purchase ticket options in advance). His selections pretty much changed every time I asked, but one remained constant: he wanted to see the orcas at SeaWorld!

And they are MAGNIFICENT!!

I think I could have stayed watching them swim all day, but there was a lot more to cover! So we moved on. Next, Peyton asked to see the dolphins. There was a "Swim with the Dolphins" activity happening. Yes, I promised Peyton he can swim with them when he's 10 (the minimum age requirement).

There's a bat ray exhibit under the Manta roller coaster ride where you can touch them. Peyton hesitated about putting his arm into the water but got used to it.

Next, we went to see the flamingoes. Peyton was fascinated to learn that their color comes from the food they eat. 

We then spent some time at the touch pools. At first, Peyton was concerned at the amount of algae in the pools. I think I've mentioned that he loves the Disney Junior show The Octonauts. One of his favorite episodes has to do with an over abundance of algae which causes the local sea creatures to get sick. The Octonauts find the source of the algae  and fix it so that the crabs, lobsters, snails, etc will be happy and healthy again. So, when we approached the touch pools, he freaked out to see quite a bit of algae, but the SeaWorld employee and I assured him that it was actually a good amount of algae for the sea stars and urchins in these pools. My little Octonaut!

Then, it was time to make our way back to Shamu stadium for the orca show. We sat in the "soak zone" and waited for a fun show!

And, oh what a great show it was!!

Remember that I said we sat in the "soak zone"? Yeah, we got pretty wet. Peyton wasn't really amused about that. Luckily, I had noticed large drying machines not too far from the stadium so we went directly there after the show. We didn't get completely dry, but we weren't soaking wet any longer. And, now Peyton was ready to go back to the bat rays and really touch them!

We found a staircase that led to a walkway under the bat ray tank which was pretty cool!

We went back to the dolphins as Peyton was feeling much more confident about sticking his hand in the water than he was before the orca show. But dolphins are fast!

We were late to the big dolphin show, but that was okay. Instead, we took a look at the sea lions and seals. 

And, we were right on time for the sea lion show which was very tongue in cheek. Lots of pop culture references but it was a fun show. 

Yes, that last picture was a final dance to "Gangam Style". I knew pictures couldn't do it justice so I recorded it instead. 

That was all before lunch! We had the other half of the park to see so we set off for the dun, dun, dun, Shark Encounter!!

Baby sharks!!

It was very cool to see all the sharks! 

And they had a Megalodon replica. 

Then it was off to see some turtles!

Playtime!

We ended our animal visits in the Poles. First, the Arctic sea life. 

I had never seen a beluga whale and, my, what a sight they are!

Another creature I got to "meet" for the first time: walruses! I knew walruses are big, but I guess I didn't expect them to be huge! They're quite playful too!

The SeaWorld map misled us to believe we'd also see polar bears, but no, there's just a replica of a polar bear ice cave tunnel. Peyton had fun playing in it!

Next, it was off to the Antarctic to visit with some penguins! SeaWorld mimics the actual lighting conditions throughout the year. August is late winter in Antarctica, thus there is very little light and the penguins huddle together to stay warm. (If you haven't seen March of the Penguins, please do so!).

By then, we were pretty tired and decided to make our way to the exit. But, Peyton perked up when we realized that near the exit (and entrance), SeaWorld has all the state flags flying with state plaques underneath each corresponding flagpole. He has really gotten into geography this summer so he was quite happy to see all the flags!

Then, it was time to head "home". And, I was very grateful that I thought ahead and paid the additional fee for "up close" parking. 

We will definitely have to go back to SeaWorld with James and again when Peyton is 10 so that he can swim with the dolphins, beluga whales and ride the scary Manta roller coaster. 

What a great day!!