Dating!

The hubs is such a kind man and a month or so back he helped a woman with her car.  She gave us tickets to the wild animal park, or San Diego Zoo Safari Park, as it is now called.  So we are about to hit our summer rush season for our business and have been trying to get in as many dates as possible before he is gone working constantly. 

We had a day off last week and decided it was time to use those tickets.  So we fed the animals, prepped the house for our absence and packed our bag with lunch, water & binoculars.  Then off we went.  The car ride was great, chatting and listening to music together.  Upon arrival we paid to park, which is a little silly, but there's no where else to park, so I hope the animals get to see my $10 hard at work.  : )

We were early enough for up front parking, yay!  Then into the park we wandered.  The parrots & macaws were right at the entrance and that was great because hubby just painted a mural with parrots.  So we stared at them for a while, took some pics and wandered on.












Our first stop was the world gardens.  This section was great for us.  We love plants!  Anyone that's seen our yard can attest to that.  Here's a few photos of the garden tour.

The Epiphyllum House was something we'd not seen before.  The whole house was in bloom, but near the end of the cycle.  There were still many blooms to enjoy, including these.

    

After that there was the bonsai pavilion.  Full of a wide selection of interesting plants, groomed into bonsai.  A pomegranate tree, a grape vine and many other unique sculpted bonsai were included.

There were other assorted plants all over the park and most of them we could say we have in our own yard.  How cool is that.  So diverse a selection to enjoy in my own backyard.  However these two were ones we don't have, yet were oh so pretty.

The hidden jungle, one of my favorite areas of the Safari Park, was full of life.  This little feller was very interested in a working canine companion that was nearby and made for a great photo.  He looks like he's saying, "let me out, you know you want to take me with you."

 There were a lot of different types of birds all over the park and these few were gracious enough to pose for me.

Of course my eyes were ever peeled for the dragonflies.  There were two red ones, a blue one and a bunch of blue damselflies as well.

Meerkats are so cute!  Hubby was calling them giant squirrels/gophers and I was making awwww sounds.  So, so cute.

The elephants were active and playing, including their youngest calf as you can see here.