Look at the giraffe scratching his head on the tree...isn't that cute?!
After two weeks of unpacking and trying to put everything in it's place, I finally ventured out one day to The Living Desert http://www.livingdesert.org/. What a treat that was! The sky was so blue, and the day was so beautiful, that I just wandered the property for hours and took pictures.
The Living Desert is a zoological park and botanical gardens where the animals live in their natural habitat. They're not caged....well, some of them are, but for the most part they roam freely in areas that are specially developed for them. It was so nice to just stroll through the park. I was there for hours....I think I took more pictures of the sky than the animals. I was totally mesmerized by the day....it's like I've been living under a cloud all this time. What a gorgeous day.
The park itself sure isn't the San Diego Zoo. It's all natural habitat. There's nothing grand about the park or the displays other than the fact that it's a wildlife preserve totally supported by donations. They only charge $11 to get in...and an annual donation/pass is about $45. The next time I go, I'll buy the annual pass...it costs less than a day at Disneyland! It's certainly worth it to be able to go there and walk around...and see those adorable giraffes.
And then there's the model trains. Good grief, I've never seen such a train set! It covers an acre of land with 2300' of track! Talk about a cool exhibit. It wasn't even running the day I was there and it was getting a lot of attention. I took pictures of that too.
Besides the animals at The Living Desert, I've seen a couple road runners, jack rabbits, a walking blade of grass and a gazillion hummingbirds. The road runners crack me up. I was stopped at a red light and one ran right across the street in front of me. They're the funniest looking things! The hummingbirds are so friendly that they fly within inches of you. I haven't quite figured out how I'm going to hang my feeder since there's nothing to hang it on....but I bought a shepherds hook....about as tall as I am...I think I'll wire it to the railing or plant it in a pot of something. It's a good reason to buy another plant for the balcony. I gave all of my plants away when I moved out here because I didn't know what would live and what wouldn't. I didn't want everything to die from the extreme change in temperature.