San Diego Safari 2 and on to San Diego

Saturday

San Diego Safari Part 2

After the great time seeing the Lorikeets and the people enjoying the Lorikeets we headed back to the branch of the trail and started to head further over the crest of the hill. A very nice formally staged restaurant with tables cloths and silverware is situated on a beautiful shaded deck terrace. There were  a few people enjoying the view from the top of the hill down toward the dry revine. A huge balloon was stationed there and as well as a way station.

The elevator to the Safari

We walked over the hill down to a tower looking building that we discovered had an elevator in it. It took people down about 70 feet from the edge of the ravine to the little building at the bottom.

So the power chair, which was getting drained of power once again and us took the elevator deeply into the ravine. The huge balloon was offering stunning viewpoints. I asked if Sue was interested in doing the balloon she said sure. But alas the balloon was grounded due to the winds.

 We got down the the little building. We could see that there was sort of a roadway that was provided for expedition vehicles to roar past. We could to seem to find out where we could get on one of these trucks. We noticed on our left side that people were arriving from their zip line adventure.

They were seated on swing seats and they came in in groups of three and fours at one time to a person that unhooked their "swing". Sue thought that it would be a lot of fun for her if she could get past their agility requirements. She might be able to to this with a little more research. Overall that was what we were lacking in total.  Assured previous research as to to where to go and what to do. Where are my planners when we need them... Ha!

We were still having the best of times and I was getting some really fine shots of the people enjoying the park together.

Mango Sorbet

We found out that the little building that we had spotted from the top was an ice cream store. One sign touted their new mango sorbet. I convinced Sue that she had to have one of those since mango is her flavor favorite. The mango sorbet was a frozen treat that came from a hollowed out half a mango attached to a stick with the mango sorbet replacing the usual enormous pit and attached mango meat. It was a great treat even at 4.50 a piece.

Once again Rescued by a Golf Cart

We tried to stop a 25 passenger bus with a lift as it passed by. The lady driver said that her lift was broken and therefore could not accommodate our chair. She offered and we accepted to have a golf cart rescue sent by. The golf cart came by and it had a ramp up by the driver's side and was dedicated to handicapped use. Once situated the driver took us right back up to the top of the hill via the backway. It was just as good as both of us had pretty much used our energy bank to get to where we were in the park. Next time we will know that we need to get to the bottom of the hill and get on a Safari vehicle that would take us through the Safari route.

Endangered Species Merry Go Round

Back at the top of the hill we spotted a merry go round. Sue felt a little slighted that she had not been able to get on the one with the rest of us in Disneyland. She was happy to jump on the merry go round that was composed of animals representing endangered species. It was a nice 3 dollar add on. Or for 6 bucks you could ride it all day... imagine that? Sue opted for the sled as it was a pretty tough reach for her to get up on the animals that were moving up and down. There were a half a dozen kids that thought the merry go round was pretty special to, they selected their favorite animals and off it went. Everyone had a great time.

At this point we decided that we had experienced enough of the park for the day. She had a chance to run through the garden store and enjoyed the way they had cactus and other succulents planted for sale.

 Animals and their Handlers

On the last hurrah before headed out the gates we stopped at the little grassy stage area where a lady from the park was bringing out animals and describing them. She brought out a frogmouth bird. It looked like an owl. It wasn't and owl and she explained what this one pound animal did to survive. It holds open its mouth which happens to be brilliantly yellow and attracts insects in. Then it swallows them whole. It does not have vicious claws so it depends on its wily to survive in the Indonesian wilderness. When big birds fly overhead it shrinks itself into a column so that it is not noticeable from the tree bark that is its background. Some turkey vultures almost on cue flew by, and sure enough this little bird made itself small and tubular, The specimen that she bought out was 23 years old. It had lived there in the zoo for most of its life. It was born at another zoo.

The lady also brought out a large brown 8 foot constrictor like snake. It knew to stay pretty close to home and she described its origin and what it liked to eat. The crowd seem to love this sort of interpretation of the animals that were brought out.

 Hotel Circle in San Diego

We slipped out of the gates and headed to our truck. I set up the phone to guide us to our hotel in the San Diego City's hotel circle. It was a easy drive and the directions got us on Interstate 8 as we headed south and west about 30 miles to the hotel.

Our destination was the Comfort Inn Hotel and Suites. I had  paid for two nights on Hotwire.com We got the room, very nicely appointed with a refrigerator and great bead and a full breakfast in the morning for 57 dollars a night.  What a deal!

It was night before Easter and the hotel was pretty packed. There were lots of kids in the pool and the parking, an additional 10.50 was pretty full under the hotel. The main desk said that we could avoid that charge by parking out on the street. I opted for the parking because of our lift for the chair on the back of the truck.  That night Sue sent me out for take out food. There were no places nearby that I could find, so up on the freeway I had to go. I finally found a Subway in a liquor store  in the Sunset area of San Diego. To get back was a bit of a challenge especially since it was now dark. I flipped to maps on my phone and followed the friars road out of the Sea World Island and it got me right back to the hotel.

We both had experienced a great adventure that day and it was nice to let it all calm down out of our heads and bodies and get some rest. For next day was our Easter Day trip to the San Diego Zoo. By all accounts it was just 15 minutes away.

: ) Pat