Zoo Safari Park

Next stop on the vacation itinerary: the San Diego Zoo Safari Park located in Carlsbad, CA. Well, that's what it is named today. At the time of our visit it was the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Park.

It was just a tad bit warm on the day we chose to visit the Safari Park... in fact, it was over 100 degrees. It was so hot even my water got dehydrated.

We didn't quite know what to expect at the Safari Zoo - but we did know it was going to be HOT. thus, we were mentally prepared to be a bit uncomfortable and agreed to call it quits early in the day if the weatherman was correct.

The Safari Zoo is huge. HUGE! Really very big and huge. You just can't believe how huge it is. It is so huge that we had to walk a California Mile just to get to the safari part of the safari zoo.

What is a California Mile you may be wondering. A California Mile is just like a Washington Mile, except IT'S TOO HOT.

Along the way we passed some neat animals, including birds and gorillas and insects but in all honesty, it was really hot so we weren't too interested in them (plus we had recently been to the S.D. Zoo (where it was a comfortable 72 degrees) so they weren't our priority). Mostly we wanted to find the safari tour.

Did I mention it was a mile away?
Did I mention the heat?

We were told there was a hot air balloon which could whisk you up in the air for an ariel view of the park. We didn't do that but I was really wishing for a Cold Air Balloon but it seems the gift shop was all sold out.

This balloon was super-sized. It was so big that at first I figured it was the actual sun itself, thus explaining the heat.

To the right of that picture you can see the Pacific Rim elevator building that saves you a whole lot of elevation gain/loss... if you like elevators. Otherwise you get to walk up/down approximately 8 floors.

Remember that this place is huge? All that land in the background behind the balloon is part of the Safari Park.

Found the lions:


Finally arrived at the Safari tram which took us on a 30 minute driving tour through the rest of the park that you aren't allowed to walk through. I'll spare you all the pics, except for two: A giraffe and a landscape shot of some land. Probably there is some cool animal in that picture, but I'm too hot to look for it.





After the tour we hiked another mile back to the entrance, stopping for a mid-morning dessert on the way back. My new favorite dessert for hot days: An Icee Sundae! Soft Serve Ice Cream on the left side of the cup, Blue Raspberry Icee on the right side of the cup. YUM!!

The kids stopped to ride the merry-go-round on the way out of the park and then... off to the Beach (where the temperature was only in the mid 70's and it was perfect)!







Finally, back to the hotel for some rest and preparation for tomorrows adventure at LegoLand!

~E