The rationale for San Diego was two-fold. First, its climate is one of the most pleasant on earth and you would think would extinguish all memories of Needles (it did not). Second it is home to the world-famous zoo. I knew that there were cheetahs and that alone was enough.
It was a long drive from Palm Springs that took us through small towns and cities before we hit Southern California proper, with its sweeping, congested freeways. Our KOA was one of the largest I have ever stayed on and though we were at the end of a row and passed by a lot of traffic it was still pretty nice. There were two jumping pillows and it was full of kids.
I decided we needed something nice to eat and some decent wine so I took a trip alone to Whole Foods (Southern California is my spiritual home for a good reason). I hate shopping, especially food shopping, but it was good to be back immersed in that culture that manages try-too-hard in a laid-back way. San Francisco has all the culture (and the best wine you will ever find in a dive bar) but there is something in the whole oxymoronic nonsense that is Southern CA that I love. I bought J sushi and myself (well all of us) some organic beef, chicken and a classy Prosecco. It was slap bang in the middle of gay San Diego - no WeHo admittedly but still obviously a place full of noisy Pride and people for whom oenology was second nature).
We left early for the zoo and shook our heads at all the crazies jogging up and down hills in the heat We found a parking spot that was not an electric vehicle charging station and bought our tickets. Now, I had already found out about the 'Backstage Pass' but I wanted to ask whether or not it would include cheetahs. The line was so long though and filled with morons so I just decided to buy a ticket from the machine and take my chances.
J stayed at the RV. It meant he could have a rest day and look after Pippin. The rest of us took a selfie as we waited for the tour.
So far so good - we got a photo opportunity with Porcupine too.
After the show we met up with Cathy, Matt and Ben. We saw a few more animals, finishing withe Giant Panda. It was an exhausting but memorable day.
It was a long drive from Palm Springs that took us through small towns and cities before we hit Southern California proper, with its sweeping, congested freeways. Our KOA was one of the largest I have ever stayed on and though we were at the end of a row and passed by a lot of traffic it was still pretty nice. There were two jumping pillows and it was full of kids.
I decided we needed something nice to eat and some decent wine so I took a trip alone to Whole Foods (Southern California is my spiritual home for a good reason). I hate shopping, especially food shopping, but it was good to be back immersed in that culture that manages try-too-hard in a laid-back way. San Francisco has all the culture (and the best wine you will ever find in a dive bar) but there is something in the whole oxymoronic nonsense that is Southern CA that I love. I bought J sushi and myself (well all of us) some organic beef, chicken and a classy Prosecco. It was slap bang in the middle of gay San Diego - no WeHo admittedly but still obviously a place full of noisy Pride and people for whom oenology was second nature).
We left early for the zoo and shook our heads at all the crazies jogging up and down hills in the heat We found a parking spot that was not an electric vehicle charging station and bought our tickets. Now, I had already found out about the 'Backstage Pass' but I wanted to ask whether or not it would include cheetahs. The line was so long though and filled with morons so I just decided to buy a ticket from the machine and take my chances.
J stayed at the RV. It meant he could have a rest day and look after Pippin. The rest of us took a selfie as we waited for the tour.
It's a great zoo but I am going to concentrate on the Backstage Pass. It's expensive - $105 on top of the entrance fee - but it is a lot cheaper than flying to Africa. At noon Hatty and I waved bye to the others and went off to the show.
It's an intimate up-close experience with the animals (there were about 15 other people there). It began when they brought out a Porcupine on a leash to see us.
Next part was an interactive feeding session - with a Rhino. You lay the vegetable slice on you open palm and then must lift it up to the roof of his mouth and pull out as he takes it. It's a little bit disgusting if you are not a fan of drool so I was impressed that Hatty managed to do it (although not exactly concealing her distaste).
We got to pet the Rhino too - you are encourage to scratch it beneath its skin fold.
Next stop on the tour was feeding the Flamingos. Flamingo food is dog kibble in a cup of water. You hold it down low and they come along to feed. It's a little intimidating when you are sitting down.
Next to the Flamingo enclosure was a zebra with a donkey. They are sometimes part of the tour but it was a rest day for them. Despite that they followed us carefully and it was clear that they wanted to be part of the show so our guide opened up the gate and let them do their bit (smiling and bowing).
The reason for the two animals is that the zebra is tame. They do not want to put it back with the general population of zebras so it spends its time with the donkey. The donkey is domesticated and provides a bridge between the wild animal and people. We will see this again later.
I was starting to worry now. What if it was a rest day for the cheetah? Still we carried on to the next exhibit to meet the wolf. This was interactive part - we were to howl to encourage the wolf to join us but it remained unmoved. All the howling you hear is the audience.
Although it did eventually pay off.
Our next visitor was a clouded leopard. My heart sank because I thought that was going to be our 'big cat' and that indeed the cheetah was having a day off.
It was nearly the end of the show. The presenter told us that they were going to do some housekeeping announcements about how to leave because we would not concentrate when the final animal came out. They explained where to leave and how to pick up the photographs and then the final animal arrived or rather the final two animals arrived.
The first animal was a dog - lupus familiaris. Like the donkey it was a helper animal the zoos use. In this case the wild animal was none other than a cheetah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheetahs are paired with dogs early in their life and the dog provides a comforting presence who is much more used to dealing with humans.
I have no words for how excited we both were.
Here's one last shot of us all together
