Friday morning dawned bright and early with Nick and I headed for Escondido and the San Diego Wild Animal park. We upgraded to parking a little bit closer and thank goodness we did because we nearly missed the most amazing part of our trip - the photo caravan! We arrived at the park, got our tickets and raced to the photo caravan loading spot; we climbed on the back of the flatbed truck, that's covered with a canopy and began the ride through the exhibits in the park. First off was Africa - giraffes, white rhinos, cranes and lots of different types of deer. The most amazing part of this section was getting to feed the giraffes!!!! I think my smile cracked my face; even Nick joined in the fun and we had an absolutely amazing time. The giraffe's tongue is warm and soft, but very rough as well. The reason it's purple is because it's sunscreen. The giraffe would wrap their tongue around the leaves we fed them and slobber all over our hands. If we could have, we would have done this the entire time at the park! The next exhibit was Asia, where we saw many different types of deer, wild cattle, birds and black rhinos. This is where we got to feed the black rhino. They are so huge and you can't feed them out of your hand because their mouth is like a beak and can crush your hand. Basically, you take the apple and they open their mouth and you just toss it in. While they eat you can "pet" them. They feel like a hard, leather shoe. Nick thought it was awesome that while the rhinos were lazing around they also were massively farting - very rude! After our photo caravan ride Nick and I got some lunch and planned out the rest of our time at the park. We spent the rest of the day walking through the exhibits, going on a Journey through Africa ride, buying souvenirs and enjoying the amazingness of the park. Our last exhibit of the day was a bird aviary and I was stalked by a pigeon from New Guinea who had this beautiful fan of lacey feathers across its head. The bird would come up against me, lift its wings and push against me; it also kept acting like it was going to peck me. Nick had great fun watching and provided no help whatsoever - it's kind of funny now. The only sad part is that some of our pictures from the end of our journey through the park did not save to our card reader. We're trying to figure that out now! We ended our day by eating at a fantastic restaurant and then taking a dip at the hotel pool.
Saturday we slept in, enjoyed a delightful brunch and then headed up to Paul's parents' house to help finish setting up for the wedding. We had a great time helping out and then Bear and I took a refreshing dip in the pool - fantastic!! The wedding started at sunset and was absolutely spectacular. Paul had designed a bridge to go over the pool where he, Bear and the pastor stood. Refreshments were divine - cheese puffs, assorted wraps, cookies, candy and these amazing pudding cups that looked like little plants - chocolate pudding, crumbles on top with a sprig of mint. The wedding was small, intimate, beautiful and I could not be happier for the two of them!
On Sunday Nick and I enjoyed a leisurely morning and then headed down to San Diego for a little tourist sightseeing at Seaport Village. Definitely a lot of souvenir shops, but also some cute stores, eateries and the historical carousel. One amazing stop we made was into a stunning art gallery where we drooled and ogled sculptures by a Vietnamese artist named, Tuan. Breathtaking and unbelieveable in the capturing of movement and balance; check out the website here. Once we finished walking around Seaport we headed for the Gaslamp District. Along the way we were treated to the sights of ComicCon goers and their fantastic costumes; Nick was able to take some pictures of the Optimus Prime statue at the entrance to the convention center and has made me promise to take him to ComicCon next year or the following year. We met up with one of my childhood friends, whom I haven't seen in forever, Kristen and her boyfriend, Jorge. It was a lot of fun and we greatly enjoyed seeing them after so long! Sunday evening we just hung out at our hotel and caught up on our Syfy show, Warehouse 13.
Monday morning came much too soon and we had to pack our bags, return our lovely convertible and climb on the plane back to Seattle. Unfortunately, our luck returning home was not as sweet and we weren't able to upgrade to first class, but we did have a lovely towncar waiting to take us home and we enjoyed a relaxing evening watching some TV shows, ordering in pizza and chilling before getting back into the groove of work, exercise, doggy care and housework.
Our garden continues to be a green paradise, with beans coming on (yellow, green and garbanzo), a few more ripe tomatoes, burgeoning onions, ripening potatoes, lengthening carrots and ever returning lettuce. Nick and I are beginning to feel like rabbits!
It's good to be home, but I can't wait until the next vacation!! Enjoy the huge slideshow!
