rorschach

So thank you everyone for the birthday wishes, both here and on IM. It was really nice to know people care.

And I had a lot of fun on my BDay, it was a near perfect day. And I was almost able to forget the heartbreak...

...speaking of which, I know a lot of people say or cry out about how their heart is broken. Sometimes some people (sometimes me) will say that because they're hurting so much inside that they will say something like that in hopes they have friends who will comfort them and be able to move on. Me and this time, it's less of a cry out and more of an observation. I simply don't feel anything from the area below my neck...that hollow space that usually holds the face of the one I'm crushing on or in love with if it's really serious. I can feel nothing there now.

In a way it's good as it's been hurting for the last few years.



So...on to the pics!


San Diego Safari Park Zoo!

You can see them all here:
Keep in mind the pics are in reverse order...go to the end and go right to left, down to up.

All of the pics have been edited but no Photoshop. I'm going to try my best from now on to pretend PS doesn't exist and use my eye, skill and hardware to get the best pic possible. My comp is still down and I'm on my work laptop so no PS to use anyway.





Look at the lil tusks! I have a feeling that if you met this lil guy on the savannah, he wouldn't mind playing.


One day old baby elephant...plus the giant alpha male. Look UNDER him.


I loved this simple lion exhibit. In order to get the male to raise his head, the group of random people trying to take pictures or look at the exhibit made a loud noise. He looked, then put his head back down.


I took a lot of flower pics...in a park like this it's so easy to just walk past some amazing beauty because it's small or you've seen it before...this was the most common flower in the park but yet...

More flowers...LOOK!

Any time a dragonfly or butterfly comes near, I'll try to take a picture. You've been warned.
So many of these pictures turned out so well, even if I used the Auto Levels feature in PhotoShop, there was virtually no noticeable difference because I chose such good lighting. I'm always hoping my shots are like that, especially when they are close-ups.


I love prairie dog/meerkat-types of animals. Wish I could raise 'em.


I told my pal this pic reminds me of GoodFellas. Anyone know why?


So the morning was spent walking around, getting some lunch and basically trekking as much as I could. I took a lot of pictures but many of the animals were shy or just not in position. But now, my tour started...it was the Caravan Deluxe tour where we sit in an open truck with benches, and with a shaded canopy. We get a driver and a tour guide who sits in back with us (these pairs often switch duties, that way they both understand each other's roles on the tour so the passengers get the most enjoyment...many times the animals do what they do as we're visiting them, and the truck driver gets us as close as possible while the tour guide acts as the lookout).

During my tour time, there was a regular Caravan Safari leaving and our Caravan Deluxe group. Theirs had like 20 people. Ours had only 5. Thus it was almost like a private tour...we had the truck to ourselves and I had every angle I wanted to take pics.




In the first enclosure at the very entrance was this one rhino, a huge and old alpha, who just relaxed and greeted us. We were able to get very close and I got a few pics. Both our tour guides seemed to have a crush on him because he was so big and magnificent yet at the same time very calm. Personally I wanted to hop out and ride on his back.




Tour started, first giraffe encounter...she was so friendly.
More...

Second giraffe encounter...this one was very shy and had a dark face. She came over, grabbed one leaf and split. According to our guide, that was the first time they ever had that girl come over and eat ever. Some of the giraffes, they come from other zoos and will never play. Others who are maybe born there or are just outgoing, they come over almost every time. So we got a rare encounter.

This pic turned out really cool.




Poor, crazy ostrich...we had a lot of encounters with these guys as they kept blocking our truck and eventually we had to chase them off. This one kept following us. Check out the link to see a LOT more.



We ran into this rhino...from far away it was scratching itself against a tree...but as soon as we got close, she just sat down and zonked out...she wouldn't play with us. At this time we've passed like four rhinos in three enclosures and none of them would come up to us.
Still I got a close pic of this one snoozin.



Third giraffe...this one was an old lady. She was extremely friendly right away and came out and stuck her tongue out at us. I got that tongue wrapped around my left hand more than once so I could only take pics with my right. Sticky business, that.
More...

The rest of the herd. The first five giraffes lived in one enclosure...these thirteen or so lived together in another. They like to keep newcomers separate so they don't get ganged up on, and maybe only pair them with one single familiar but friendly giraffe. But this is the group...they were aloof when the old lady visited.



Ok so at this point we ran out of giraffe food (leaves) but we had full buckets of rhino food. Every rhino had snubbed us so everyone in the group felt like we were going to miss out.


We spotted this mom with her days-old child. We followed the mom because the mom was a known friendly animal. But everytime we got close, the baby would run off and the mom would follow.

New strategy...lure the child. AKA the McDonalds technique.

And he came right over...almost.

Our clever tour guides threw apples on the ground to lure him in and he came close.


Closer...lookit his lil horn-bump!
Mom still wouldn't come over. Instead she went about 20ft away and stood with her back facing us. Once the kid was done, she ran over. We didn't get to feed 'em but it was still adorable.



So now we drive around another 35 minutes or so and every single rhino is too busy shitting, or sitting in a pool of mud or just sleeping under the shade. (The life of a rhino is hard, I know.) By now everyone thinks we're getting shut out. But during the last half hour of our tour (3.5 hour-long tour) we get a call that the previous pair of rhinos (and there are over a dozen of them all over the various enclosures...it's cool because the animals all live together in a big enclosure, except predators of course, and herd together...it's really a park rather than a depressing zoo) were now in a feeding area where they look for food.

This pair previously ran away from us.

They're sisters. One has a small horn, the other has a medium horn with a divet in the front of that horn.

And they were hungry! (To feed them the apples, you literally have to stick your hand into the rhino's mouth and let it close gently on your hand as you roll the apple slice (and cores) into their snouts. Again, sticky business.

Small horn girl:

Feeding...


Me petting...

Medium horn with hole girl:

Me feeding...


Me petting...


EHRMERGERD IT WAS A LOVELY DAY.

This pic was taken by me by putting the camera at waist high, between two wooden planks where there was a hole, and just inches away from the rhino snout. Thus it is almost rhino-level...which made for a killer shot.


Having had our fulfilling rhino encounter and almost out of time, we now drove back to home...we had to pass by the giraffe herd again. This time all of the giraffes got friendly so our tour guides stopped repeatedly. It was funny because we were totally out of food.


Giraffe close encounter #2.


Two young brothers sharing some affection.

Close encounter #3...third different giraffe...male...

Another young male...this guy has an itchy face. Everytime a caravan comes through, he likes to come up scratch himself on it. Quite amusing.




One more looking for food...this poor female recently gave birth and the grown male giraffes kept following it around...to suck on her for milk.



And as we left, yet another giraffe started following us for food. It was fun to be so wanted! Should've come earlier!



Baby giraffe!


Ok so tour now over. It was awesome as you can see. I washed up and spent the last hour buying gifts for people (you'll be getting them sorta soon!) and looking at some exhibits. Near the front, they have this part where they keep bringing out animals by hand, from snakes to armadillos.


Here we have an adorable wallabee.


Last pic...I love birds with S-shaped necks...this is where the pelicans were along with a ton of different ducks and geese. You can hand-feed the water fowl there as they have vending machines with pellets. It's fun as the birds eat right from your hand.

After that, I drove back to downtown San Diego, washed up, took a nice nap and then ate at my fave place in SD...Hunter's Steakhouse. It's actually a chain but I like this one location, which is right at the hotel circle. Then some more relaxing at the hotel and then I drove home.

That's all...a great day for my b-day.

- R
.>|<.


PS - thanks to Kat, who was the inspiration for this trip. <3