"A Winter Afternoon of San Diego Area Fun" - Time Out #180

My bride, Debbie, and I recently took our annual winter adventure to the greater San Diego area; also known by their longtime nickname "America's Finest City".

With almost "eternal spring" weather year round, in my humble opinion, it truly has consistently, the finest weather of any continental city in our great country. As far as I am concerned, the only location in the USA that has better overall weather is the Hawaiian Islands. I, personally, enjoyed living in the San Diego area for 3 years, 1978-81, and Ms. Debbie was born there. In 1981, I brought her back to Our Town, and she has absolutely loved her adopted town almost from the moment she arrived here. Yes, it is mostly all about our beloved people!

For our recent week long trip West, we once again called on the ease of leaving from and arriving back to Stillwater Regional Airport via our local carrier, American Airlines. This outing marked the 9th time we have used the convenience of local airline service since it began operation in August, 2016. When everything goes as pre-planned, it makes traveling SO much easier, folks!

Because most of my bride's family lives in the northern parts of huge San Diego County, we once again stayed in our favorite coastal city, Carlsbad, located about 30 miles north of the main airport, and adjacent to the always, super busy, I-5 freeway.

The weather was typically great the entire time we were there, and our 3rd afternoon, we had the best combination we could have chosen to do. We spent this special time with our brother-in-law, Michael, and the 3 of us once again toured the large San Diego Zoo Safari Park on the eastern edge of Escondido. This huge (1,800 acres) biological park was opened May 10, 1972, and is located 32 miles northeast of the famous San Diego Zoo. The 2 facilities are under the same ownership, but the zoo is a "mere" 100 acres, and is located near downtown San Diego in historical Balboa Park. The safari park is much more spread out, and attracts 2 million visitors each year to view its animals and plants in their enormous enclosures. Also, located on its expansive grounds is the world's largest veterinary hospital.

The years I spent in San Diego, I was an annual member of the San Diego Zoological Society. Our relative, Mr. Micheal, also maintains yearly membership, and with that comes 2 complimentary passes, which he graciously allowed us to use, along with complimentary parking for our rental vehicle we had for the week.

It had been several years since my bride and I had visited this great facility. Some of you readers of Our Town and far beyond, may remember the former name it had from 1972-2007, the San Diego Wild Animal Park. The name was changed by the governing trustees to try to capture the safari-like atmosphere the park projects to the visiting public.

Our trio spent several leisurely hours inside the park. We did make sure our first main activity was riding the rubber-tired Africa

Tram on its 30-minute narrated tour through the huge African enclosure, The multi-car tram runs on biofuel in keeping with the park's ecology theme. During this educational experience, we saw many antelopes, giraffe, water buffalo, cranes, and rhinoceros, all appearing to co-exist just fine as they do on their native African plains, thousands of miles away. We then walked by the lion enclosure, and heard the large male roar several times for his 2 lionesses. That was quite a treat, hearing the so-called King of Beasts, bellowing out his impressive vocal comments!

Next was the impressive cheetah run where we witnessed the incredible creature reach a speed of about 70 mph, running down a football field length track. In fact, we were fortunate enough to see nature's fastest animal do the dash twice! Our cell phone cameras tried desperately to capture the moment as best we could.

In Elephant Valley, we were able to watch their small group of these magnificent animals interact and display their interesting behaviors in another very large enclosure. We admired lots of various bird life as we strolled through their colorful Nairobi Village, before reaching the enchanting Gorilla Forest. Here, we marveled at Winston, their 47-year-old male silverback and his troupe of 7 other gorillas. We walked back and forth while there, for about 30 minutes, simply observing the unique interaction of these beautiful animals with all members of their group.

An experience like we had would not have been complete without visits to the gift shops and refreshment areas. Both of these missions were well accomplished.

As we left the park, I reflected just how much enjoyment was felt, once again touring this magical place. It was even better because our trio experienced it together!