I'm So Excited!

On Thursday we went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park with the objective of enjoying a pleasant day and giving our new cameras a workout.  I got mine in late September, and Craig got his for Christmas, but with my shoulder healing from surgery, I really haven't had the chance to experiment very much.

The Safari Park is about an hour's drive from Jojoba Hills, and is a perfect place to photograph animals. It was a beautiful day, and the park was not crowded. Most of the animals we observed were awake, and the enclosures were large and photo-friendly. 

Below are ten images.  I could easily have added another ten from the day's shoot! It looks like our biggest problem is going to be deciding which to keep and which to delete. 

I love digital photography!

Sony RX10

Sony RX10

Sony RX10

Sony RX10

Nikon D850

Sony RX10

Sony RX10

Sony RX10

Sony RX10

I don't know this boy, but he reminded me of a boy I once knew
Sony RX10

I am really looking forward to taking lots of pictures on our travels to the Northwest this summer, and sharing them with all of you.

Next week we go to the Winter Blast in Havasu City, NV. I hope we can do some hikes during the days at the beginning of the week. I think the fireworks don't start until later in the week.

Looking up!

Gorilla on the path at Wekiwa Springs, Florida

Plans for exploring Wekiwa Springs were put on hold when I woke early Sunday morning with a very unpleasant stomach bug. Craig had something a few days earlier that made him want to curl up in bed and skip dinner, but aside from feeling lousy for a few days it never developed into much. I won't go into details, but for me the first six hours or so were not good, and a plastic pot was my constant companion. After that I was weak and dizzy and missed an entire day.

We passed on a hike Monday, and went to see the movie "American Sniper".

I felt much better on Tuesday so we went to the Springs area of the park.  The water is very clear and not very deep. You can see the upwelling of the water from below.  We want to canoe sometime in the next few days.

We walked the 3/4 mile "wet to dry" boardwalk trail. 

I told Craig I felt like I was in a terrarium. 

It looped back to the Springs area, where we  met a volunteer who had a Florida Pine Snake around his neck. He asked if I wanted to hold her, and of course I did. She was smooth and cool. She is a good snake. Not venomous and eats moles and mice. But her habitat is very threatened by development. Her species is threatened by wild pigs, fire ants, domestic pets and traffic.

Next we drove to the  Sand Lake area of the park. The water was like a mirror. 

Beautiful!

Sand Lake is really just a pond, but there was a nice path around it. There are many  warning signs about alligators, and we were also told to watch out for venomous snakes along the pathway. Aside from the squirrels the only creature we saw on our walk was this gorilla on the path.

OK, it was a fallen tree, I guess we have been in too many parks looking for wildlife.