Adventures of a Midwestern Girl in Sunny, Sunny California

Last weekend, Steve and I went to Safari West for my birthday. Yes, my birthday was 5 months ago. But, for a variety of reasons (foster care raccoons; wanting to be sure it was warm September, not cold April; conference and vacation schedules of co-workers), we had planned it for this weekend. The whole Safari West experience is not cheap. My birthday present was a combined effort of my parents, Steve, and my own contributions. But it is so worth it!

We went up on Sunday afternoon after our shift at WildCare, getting up there around 4:30. The accommodations are “luxury safari tents”. They are basically like cabins, but the walls are made of canvas; each “room” is its own separate building. Even though the tents have some distance between them, because the walls are made of canvas, it is possible to hear people talking in other tents, so you do need to be a bit careful to keep your voice down. But the place is so relaxing and quiet, with just the sounds of the animals for the most part. Our tent was off at the end of the road, quite a bit away from the main area. It was perfect, just across from the lake.

There were some tents just across the road from the first animal enclosure which would have had great views of the giraffes, but there were some Sarus Cranes in there that made this huge trumpeting noise. Apparently the trumpeting of this species of bird was used as the velociraptor calls in Jurassic Park. Steve and I quickly agreed that we were glad to have a bit of distance from these calls.

After getting settled in our tent, we headed down to the main area to peruse the gift shop and take a look at the animals in the immediate area. The cheetahs were in a great position for pictures and I’m very glad we saw them Sunday because they were a bit harder to see on Monday.

Dinner was very good, with grilled meats, baked mac and cheese, salad, etc and fresh blackberry cobbler with ice cream. After dinner, everyone headed out to the lake to watch the catfish feeding. Safari West put 500 catfish in the lake 8 years ago. They have no idea how many are in there now, but these fish are enormous. Finally, we headed back to the dining area and roasted marshmallows while one of the employees played guitar. It was wonderfully relaxing. Actually, it was kind of like being at camp.

Back at the tent, we discovered that it was freezing. Because it had been in the high 90s and our tent had been stifling that afternoon, we had decided not to pay heed to the detailed instructions of how to be sure our tent was warm and cozy when we got back from dinner. It had been so hot that the last thing we wanted to do was close up the window flaps and turn on the space heater. But it cooled off rapidly when the sun went down. I think it was probably in the 50s overnight, and we left the window flaps halfway down so we could hear the animal sounds. The bed was warm and comfortable, so it was only the occasional trip to the loo that was cold.

However, in the morning, I had a long debate with myself over whether or not a shower was really necessary. Ultimately, I decided it was all part of the experience, so I headed into the open-air ventilated bathroom and turned the water as hot as it would go.

After breakfast, we headed out for our tour. It is amazing how much land Safari West has; their web site says the preserve is 400 acres. The first 2 and a half hours were spent driving around the property looking at the animals. We started in the main enclosure which holds the giraffes. There were several baby giraffes, including one that had just been born a week earlier.

After this first area, we headed off through a gate into the rangeland. The animals have acres and acres of land to roam. Ultimately, for the animals out on the range, I think it is almost like being in the wild, except that they do not need to worry about food, water, shelter, or predators.

The 3-hour safari tours are conducted mostly on these old Korean War-era trucks. There is a seating area up on top of the truck, over the head of the driver. We definitely wanted to sit up there, but we had to wait our turn. I’m actually glad that we didn’t sit up top for the first part of the tour. We went up top second, just as we started to head off-road into the range. It was quite an exciting ride at times and you know how I like a good thrill ride.

As we headed up and over a few hills, I was speculating with Steve what animals might be out there as we passed fields and fields of poop piles. Over one last hill and we got our answer.

These Scimitar Horned Oryx were enormous and they had so much space to roam.

I guess you seldom see all of the species of animals that live at Safari West on the tour because they have so much space and they just aren’t always by the road. But we saw plenty.

Let’s face it. The animals out on the range were all prey species. The only predators at Safari West are the cheetahs and a serval and they are in enclosures in the main area. So, basically, as we rode around the property we saw lots of variations on the deer/gazelle type of species. But our guide pointed out something interesting that I had never really realized before. When watching nature programs, I have wondered from time to time how different species stayed together during a stampede when a pride of lions attacked. Our guide noted that each of these different prey species has a different pattern on its butt. He called them “follow marks”. So, one species had black stripes on each cheek,

another species had a white circle around its butt (like it had sat on a freshly painted toilet seat),

another had those white circles filled in so each cheek was a white semi-circle,

and so on and so on. So each species basically recognizes the butt markings of their family members. During a stampede, as long as they follow the right markings, they’ll be together at the end. Neat.

In addition to these animals and many more, we also saw zebra, cape buffalo, and wildebeests.

We were also “trapped” by a couple of very curious ostriches. Ostriches can be very dangerous and the guide couldn’t get out of the truck to open the gate we had to pass through with the ostriches so close, so we had to wait for another guide to come over and open the gate for us. In the meantime, we got some up close and personal moments with the birds. The female even spent a few minutes pecking at Steve’s foot. As I said at the time, them’s good eats between the toes!

After the driving part of the tour, we took another 45 minutes or so for the walking tour around the cheetah enclosures, the serval, and the lemurs.

There was an adorable baby on the lemur island. He moved so quickly that there were times I thought there were two of them. I’d be taking a picture and he’d leap out of the frame in one direction and within the blink of an eye, he was suddenly coming back in from the other direction.

Before leaving, Steve and I had a great lunch from the on-site deli and then took one last walk around the tent area and the lake. I had an absolutely fantastic time. Staying overnight at Safari West was a great experience and the atmosphere of the place actually reminded us of our most favorite place ever: Silky Oaks (from our honeymoon in Australia). I think perhaps next year we might consider taking a little mini-vacation close to home and stay there for 3 nights or so, making it our base from which to explore the area. If we do, we’ll definitely pay attention to the instructions for keeping the tent warm overnight, though.

Last weekend, Steve and I spent some time at the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk. For those unfamiliar with Bay Area geography, Santa Cruz is just south of our offices and then west to the ocean. Rather than drive home Friday night and then back right past our offices Saturday morning on a 2-hour drive to Santa Cruz, we decided to leave right from work Friday and spend the night. During the summer, the Boardwalk has free concerts on Friday nights. When we were choosing our weekend, I took a look at the concert schedule and saw that the Gin Blossoms were playing on the 22nd; I had always liked them in college, and none of the other groups really appealed to us, so we decided that was the weekend to go.

We got to Santa Cruz in great time, but didn’t get to the boardwalk until just after the show had started because the service at the local Denny’s was, ummm, good but laid-back. Anyway, this meant that we didn’t have a great selection for planting our butts on the beach in front of the stage. We finally found an open area and sat down to enjoy the concert. Shortly thereafter, we discovered perhaps why this area had been empty as 3 drunk bimbos stumbled over to re-arrange their blanket. One of them (with the biggest, blondest hair of the group) said “hold this” to Steve and thrust her purse and beer can at him so she could get to work on their patch of sand, holding her blanket this way and that and effectively blocking the view of everyone behind her.

The guards rather quickly tossed her and her brethren off the beach. Apparently, their 40 oz of Bud Light were not allowed on the beach. I was a little afraid we were going to get tossed with them since Steve was still holding the purse and beer, but we were fortunately not mistaken as part of the group. So off they went and Steve and I thought we had lucked out. But their blanket was still there and they came back shortly with new beers in plastic cups.

Which the guards promptly told them they had to chug or leave the beach. With such an option, what do you think they did?

At any rate, with the beers gone there was significantly less chance that Steve would get a beer spilled over his head.

The concert was fun; the Gin Blossoms played all of their hits. And I was really impressed with the sound system. Remember, this was outside, on a beach. Honestly, the sound was better than the last concert Steve and I went to at the Paramount Theatre in Oakland (which was really disappointing).

Staying overnight in Santa Cruz allowed us to sleep in and still get to the boardwalk right when it opened at 11AM. The day started off overcast and there weren’t many people there, so we hopped on the rides quickly. I rode the Fireball again and, like last time, had great fun.

Rides generally do not make me ill; I love the teacups, much to Steve’s dismay. But I may have finally met my match. The Tornado is like the teacups, but the cups are suspended in mid-air making them rotate that much more vigorously and sway in 3 dimensions, not just on the linear plane. Steve refused to go on it. I knew I could never get the thing rotating enough on my own, so I found myself a strapping young lad sitting by himself and took the seat next to him.

We did get the thing going, and it was fun, but I didn’t feel quite right afterward. Steve and I took a 20-minute break while I regained my equilibrium, but I was a little worried I would spend the rest of the day feeling off. With a little trepidation, I agreed to another ride on the Giant Dipper. And I was fine afterwards. The roller coaster seemed to shake me back into balance and I was back in ride mode!

And we were off the Logger’s Revenge!

Half-way through the day, it was time for mini-golf. I’m always up for a good game of mini-golf, especially when I can take the opportunity to wipe the floor with Steve. I played an absolutely magnificent round, while Steve. . . Steve’s worst hole took 15 strokes. Heh heh heh.

I was so on that I actually made the hole-in-one at the end! I didn’t think such a thing was even possible, but there my ball went, right in. It must have been the laser-guided targeting mechanism in my eyes, in evidence in the picture below, that guided my golf ball straight and true.

By the time 4:00 rolled around, the boardwalk had gotten very crowded and the lines were way too long. With a 2 hour drive ahead of us, we made a final purchase of salt water taffy and cinnamon apples and headed out.

We got home tired, but happy, and were looking forward to a nice relaxing evening. But there was a phone message about a baby raccoon at WildCare that needed to go into foster care. But that’s a story for another post.

Okay, okay, this entry is terribly late. What can I say? I’ve been really busy. Anyway, since I was going to Seattle for the SLA conference in June, Steve and I decided to make it a long weekend before the conference to visit our friends A & V. It had been about a year since we saw them last, so it was great to have a little time for a visit.

We started off the trip with a leisurely visit to the local zoo. Our first animal encounter may not have been quite what V was expecting, but I was enthusiastic.

Surprisingly, I was the only one who seemed to want to get my hand covered with alpaca slobber. At first, the two alpacas were over on the far side of the enclosure. I got some food out of the machine and was ready to walk over to them, but they hauled a$$ over to me as soon as they heard me put the quarters into the vending machine.

Although not into the alpacas, Steve was able to commune with an emu a couple of enclosures over.

The zoo has a pretty impressive population of macaws. They were really pretty and this one knew how to wave good-bye to us.

Of course, at a place called Cougar Mountain, one would expect to see some kitties. First, there were two beautiful tigers. The zoo had specifically requested these two boys for their coloration. They are currently in a kind of toddler enclosure (they’re only a year or so old). Their permanent enclosure is going to be a couple of acres and the zoo is scrambling to finish it so it will be ready once these guys outgrow their current apartment.

The cougars were next to the tigers, but, while the tigers are young kids, the cougars are senior citizens. They are still beautiful, but you can tell the aches and pains of old age are starting to take a toll.

The next day we headed downtown. First, we decided to take the ferry to Bainbridge Island. Mind you, we didn’t really go to the island. We just took the ferry over and back which a lot of tourists do. It doesn’t cost much and it’s a great way to see Seattle and Puget Sound. It was a gorgeous day to get out on the water.

After our ferry ride, we stopped in a few shops and walked through the Public Market. We had already gone there on our last visit, so we didn’t spend too much time. We were kind of just killing time waiting to go on the ghost tour we had booked the night before. The ghost tour was a little bit of a disappointment as it was more of a “people who have died here” kind of tour. But it was still interesting, and the group is putting together another tour of the Public Market area that will focus more on the local history and scandals. That could be neat for our next visit.

The cost of the ghost tour included admission to an improv theatre group that was in the middle of a marathon. They’d been going at it for 24 hours or so when we went in and I think they were starting to get tired. It was, ummm, interesting. There were a few funny moments, but one half hour session was enough for 3 out of 4 of us. Besides, it had been a long day out on the water and in the sun, so we headed back to A & V’s place to watch a movie.

On the way across Lake Washington, we actually caught sight of one Washington icon that Steve and I were convinced was nothing more than a tall tale used to lure tourists to the area. For years now, A & V have been saying “Oh, if only Rainier was out today” “We wish you could see Rainier” “Rainier’s so beautiful”. But we’d never seen it. It was still playing hard to get, but finally Mt. Rainier decided to give us a glimpse as if just to prove its existence.

On Sunday, after a long weekend of eating way too much food, and drinking way too much drink (including some fabulous rum drinks at Bahama Breeze), Steve flew home and I headed off to the SLA conference. It is always wonderful to see A & V, and Seattle is a great city. Which brings me to one last point I want to make. Seattle folks are whiners.

I loved the time I spent in Seattle. The downtown area was walkable, even with the hills, and there were lots of cool shops and places to eat. I’m sure there are places in the city where this would not be the case, but unlike in San Francisco, I never once passed a doorway and inhaled the scent of urine.

Also unlike in San Francisco, the city never had that low tide smell. Whenever I’m in San Francisco, at certain times of day, it smells like low tide. And, as you walk past sewer manhole covers, you’ll often be treated to a burst of warm, stinky air. Despite the fact that Seattle is every bit as much a port city as San Francisco is, it never smelled that way.

Finally, the weather. Everyone complains about the overcast days. Granted, I was there in June and it is less overcast in the summer than in the winter. But here’s the thing. Whenever I was talking to a local and I mentioned that we’d had good luck with the weather the last few days (overcast in the morning, but burning off to be sunny in the afternoon), I got an unenthusiastic semi-agreement. Like they were agreeing just to be polite, but they actually thought the weather sucked.

I worked in my firm’s Seattle office on my last day there. As I was walking in the halls outside the office, some random young woman, looked at me and laughed. “Only in Seattle,” she said, “would anyone be wearing a turtleneck in June.” This, btw, was one of my nice fine-knit Ann Taylor turtlenecks, not some bulky fleece-lined number. I refrained from responding that this is what I would commonly wear to our San Francisco office in June. Frankly, I was a bit taken aback by her comment.

So, you’ve got a city that has a funky downtown, weather similar to that in San Francisco, and that does not appear to smell like urine, rotting fish, and sewage at various intervals. What’s the problem, exactly?