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San Diego Zoo has extended hours until 8pm through April 11. (Taken 4.5.21)

I had such a productive day. I had a Zoom this morning and since I don't do mornings, I had to go to bed early and take extra melatonin last night. But then I was up and at 'em, made breakfast for the family, watched Jen Sassy Psaki whose PR dexterity and sharpness make her a superhero, watched the COVID-19 Response Team briefing and a couple other newsy things, took the dog for a walk, wrote another rant (see end of this post), then took Darren to get his second vaccine shot. We picked up more amazing food from Sayulita's, macked at home, then Darren and I walked around the San Diego Zoo for the last hour and a half it was open. They're currently open until 8pm, which means a lot of the animals are already off exhibit and the ones who aren't are bathed in darkness, so I didn't get many photos, but we caught one of the last Skyfaris from the west mesa back toward the entrance and now everyone is all nestled up for bed as I have the quiet house to myself. I'll probably do evening zoo at least one more time this week because it's so nice and cool once the sun drops and the animal sounds across the park are so enchanting. The San Diego Zoo Safari Park is now open until 6pm, so we might try and head up on Tuesday to see the blooms of the Baja Succulent Gardens at the very top of the park above the California Condors and Australian Outback. 

I haven't had a drink since our camping trip...a mini-cleanse, if you will...but I was ready for action tonight. But with Darren asleep, it seems a little desperate to cocktail alone, so I'll hope he's not knocked out from dose two tomorrow or Wednesday and loosen back up. I'm gonna have to find a new show to watch because I watched the Netflix series "Who Killed Sara?" and I need a palate cleanser for the horrible dialogue on that one, though it could just be a really poor dub. Maybe I'll watch the next season in Spanish when it drops in May.  Casbah's got some announcements this week, so make sure you're signed up for their newsletter which you can do at CasbahMusic.com. I hope everyone is being good and safe out there, and I'll catch ya tomorrow.

Support San Diego Zoo's Virtual Food, Wine & Brew Celebration This Saturday

 

This Saturday at 5pm the San Diego Zoo is hosting a virtual Food, Wine & Brew Celebration. You can buy tickets to the virtual party, which also includes one of four boxes for pickup this week, including a Wine Lover Box, a Beer Enthusiast Box, or a Spirits Sipper Box for $50 each, or a $25 Non-Boozer Box. Get your tickets here until noon on September 25th. More information after the jump.

Must Do San Diego: San Diego Zoo & Safari Park

It's no secret I've always been a fan of the San Diego Zoo and the Safari Park, but after spending Monday evening at the Zoo and Tuesday afternoon at Safari Park, I have to tell you there's no time like the present to go.

For one, it's Jungle Bells at the Zoo, which started over the weekend and lasts through January 1st. That means extended hours (open until 8pm nightly), plus lights all over the zoo, and carolers and  dancing for kids, and I think the trampoline people even do a special Christmas show.

But an even better reason is that Africa Rocks is FINALLY open!! It was set to open over the summer, but last year's rains set the construction schedule back so it was only being opened incrementally. Now the whole thing is finally open, so you can enter from the bottom by the penguins or from the top by the Kopje Rocks. I think there's a path in from Outback section, too.

From the Zoo:

The 8-acre Conrad Prebys Africa Rocks exhibit is designed to allow guests to stroll along a gently winding pathway through six distinct biodiverse zones of Africa, with state-of-the-art animal habitats and garden spaces. All six Africa Rocks habitats are now open: Cape Fynbos, featuring African penguins and leopard sharks; West African Forest, featuring West African dwarf crocodiles and turtle species; the Kopje, featuring dwarf mongooses, rock hyrax and meerkats; Madagascar Forest, featuring lemurs and fossas; Acacia Woodland, featuring vervet monkeys, leopards, honey badgers and a wide variety of birds; and Ethiopian Highlands. The African Garden, near the Ethiopian Highlands area, displays eye-catching and unusual plants—including many never seen before at the Zoo, and some that are highly endangered.

Of course, at night, several of the animals are off exhibit or sleeping but it's still a pretty walk and the weather this week has been perfect. We grabbed a couple poke bowls in North Park and took them in to eat by the Elephant Odyssey while sipping on Karl Strauss African Penguin Pale Ale. We didn't get to see the baboons, but I know we'll be back again soon.

The San Diego Zoo’s newest residents—hamadryas baboons—actively explored their new home at the recently opened Ethiopian Highlands habitat in the Conrad Prebys Africa Rocks exhibit ...
“We are thrilled to have the hamadryas on exhibit for our Zoo guests,” said Dustin Black, primate keeper, San Diego Zoo. “They are doing very well and enjoying their expansive habitat here in Africa Rocks. They spend much of their day doing exactly what hamadryas baboons do—eating, climbing, chasing each other, grooming each other and vocalizing. They have an incredible social dynamic; and it is not only fun, but very fascinating to observe them.”
The Zoo’s hamadryas baboon group is made up of 12 females and eight males, ranging in ages from 23 years to 3 months...
The current “leader” of the Zoo’s hamadryas group is 19-year-old Elvis, recognizable as the largest male. He can often be seen strutting around the exhibit, as well as spending time protecting one of his favorite females, 6-year-old Kurzbein, and her 3-month-old baby girl.

The new bridge as seen from Skyfari

Africa Rocks walkway

After having such a good night on Monday, we decided to get up to the Safari Park and it will definitely go down as one of our most magical visits. We got there at 4:15 (they close at 5 but you can kinda get away with lingering past that). We more or less had the park to ourselves. Starting with the gorillas who were in the cave but came out to show off the baby  

From there, we were heading to the cheetahs, but got sidetracked at the balloon. Apparently, a new third party vendor has taken over (Aerophile) the balloon and dropped the prices. During the 'slow season' weekdays, it was only $12! So since we're more or less skipping gift-giving this year we decided this was a great gift to ourselves. We had the balloon to ourselves and the view is spectacular.

From there, we went to the lions, where Nova had made friends as they chased her side to side. We stayed there for quite some time as they played with us. By that point, the park was closed and everyone cleared out, but we did the slow meander to the exit by walking around the campground, passing the Safari Outlook and two massive rhinos happened to be sleeping just under Kilima Point so besides the fence between us, we were about 3 feet away from these magnificent creatures.

From there, it's a short walk around the Tembo Stadium and elephants toward the entrance. The Safari Park was completely empty, we were the last car in the lot to leave. We'll probably head up at least a couple more times before the new year to find whatever other magical surprises await.

Year after year, the annual membership proves to be our most worthwhile yearly expense.

More pictures from recent trips to the parks after the jump.

A Day At San Diego Zoo & Safari Park

I've been trying to balance my life a little more. I still have a lust for live music (though my desire to photo/video shows is waning since it seems everyone has a camera and better skills than me), but it is important to take advantage of this magnificent city we live in and get some sunshine to offset my vampire night lifestyle.

This week my zoo membership is expiring and since it is typically a birthday gift from my mom, I might have to wait a few months before renewal. When I found out my mom also had some guest passes that were expiring, Chase and I did a double header, spending Monday at the zoo and Tuesday at the Safari Park. It was especially great because though I go with some regularity, Chase had never been to either park so we pretty much covered every canyon, path and trail available to us. If you haven't been to either in awhile, I suggest enjoying these beautiful pieces of San Diego's anatomy. I should mention that the Safari Park has just added a really cool ropes/obstacle course that I hope I get to try soon.

All of these photos were taken with my Blackberry.

       

       

      

      

     

Sent via BlackBerry by AT&T

Pictures- Wild Animal Park

After a late night Saturday night --some friends came over after the Sweet & Tender Hooligans show--it was nice to sleep in and chill out before my family picked me up and we headed to the Wild Animal Park. Every year, they do a Park at Dark Holiday Lights thing, and this was the last day to catch it in 2007. Of course, my camera was mainly focused on my niece, Johanna.





The entrance to the lot was packed, perhaps poor planning on our part, but it was fun and a nice way to spend the late afternoon. It was funny how everywhere you walked you heard people talking about the recent tiger attack in SF. When we realized the wait for the tour into "The Heart of Africa" was nearly two hours, we decided we would see what we could by foot. As far as the animals go, it was only exciting to see the lions enclosure, where one lion really did just look like the kind of the jungle.



As we were about to leave his area, the crowd kinda roared. The lion was stretched on his perch, then quickly jumped down and ran to where the people were looking through the glass and he began to roar. It was so loud, we thought it was one of the prerecorded boxes making the sound, but it was the lion growling, and his roar caused all of the other lions, who were in the adjacent building put away for the night, to roar.

Once the sun dropped, it became harder to see much of the animals, but we still wandered around, looking at the lights, watching some kids use sleds on an artificial snow hill, some other kids sing some Christmas songs on a karaoke machine, and various other activities in the village area of the park before we ran out of things to do and we headed back south.



It was a beautiful night in Escondido, and I made my mom stop at a little taco shop to get some of the awesome Mexican food that Escondido is known before we said our goodbyes. Any San Diegan who doesn't have a Zoological Society membership is really missing out on one of the best things San Diego has to offer.

Jack FM Big Nighttime Zoo Party: 4 Free Tickets

This Saturday, Jack FM 100.7 is hosting a Big Nighttime Zoo Party for their listeners.

From The Station:

In case you’re not in the know, all the festivities are going on THIS SATURDAY, June 23rd, from 4 – 9 pm. We are guaranteeing a day of fun for the entire family. Check out all the cool animals at the Zoo as the sun goes down, the different shows and demonstrations from this years Nighttime Zoo theme “Fiesta De Las Caras”, and don’t forget to see Jack FM’s own wild animal – The Music Monkey!!

I got my hands on 4 tickets to this event but since it will be happening at the same time as my sister's baby shower, I'd like to make sure they don't go to waste.
Send an e-mail to divebarchick@gmail.com and tell me your favorite animal and who your three guests will be and I'll pick a winner at random by the end of the day Thursday and we can coordinate pick-up of the tickets sometime Friday.