SoCal Dream is a Reality

Hi all! We are in Southern California, aka Carlsbad. It is outside San Diego. We are staying at this lovely state park:

We've been here since Sunday. We leave Thursday to go up the coast to Alameda Fairgrounds (outside San Francisco) for a week.

This park is beautiful, since it is on a bluff overlooking the beach. There are over 200 sites. We are boondocking (dry camping). We are only allowed to run our generator from 10AM to 8PM, but it is quiet, not like the monsters you hear around us drowning out the surf. There is a street behind us (a main thoroughfare), but it really doesn't bother us that much, since in between bursts of cars you can hear the surf below. It's pretty pleasant weather-wise, too. This is a popular place during the weekend, and they only let trailers in beginning at 2PM daily. Don't come early! They will turn you away (not sure why? but them's the rules)! Anyway, we are enjoying ourselves here immensely. There are other Airstreams here, too, so that makes it a classy park 😁

Security

(lol, nah, just G in his California pose)

from the bluff to the beach

our view (25 steps from our campsite)

We went to Escondido, which hosts the San Diego Zoo Safari Park. We've been here before, many moons ago on my first trip to San Diego. G has been to SD before because of work (lucky duck), and SweetT gets to come visit her granddaughter Harper AT LEAST 3X a year (so jelly!) But anyway, if you come out this way, take a little extra time to come out and see it.

We rode the tram first, which is all the way at the back of the park. It is a 30-minute ride, and well worth it. Take the time to go on it, then visit all the other areas on the way back from the tram. The only animals not out were the lions (apparently they had problems with the water system, so they had them in their pen. I didn't understand this, since in their natural habitat, they go without water for days. Hmm?!

Anyway, here are some of the neat animals we saw:

Lowland Niyala (a type of antelope)

Greater Flamingo (just means they're taller)

South African Oryx

Wildebeests

Reticulated Giraffe (means "ringed")

There are lots of other animals, mostly antelope species, some ostrich (they were far away and not part of the tram tour). Here are some animals we saw on the way back to our parking spot.

African Elephants

Lemurs

Silverbacked Gorilla

Meerkats

Kangaroo

California Condor

Blue Parrot (he was shy)

More Flamingos (from Chile--they have great wine there)

And this beautiful lady (she's my favorite)

She was a ham! 

We had a great day seeing all the animals and the changes since we'd been there last. There was still some construction and new things being done. Can't wait to see it when we come back again.

Our next stop will be further north around San Francisco (outside Oakland area/Alameda). Y'all come back now! 😉