Month: May 2018
World of Zoo San Diego

World of Zoo San Diego

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To my fellow animal lovers! I bring to you a post from San Diego, CA.

At this zoo, they have over 3,000 animals! We spent ALL day there and still missed some!

Their Koala’s are just too pampered, so happy and fluffy… Turns out koalas are very picky eaters, and will only eat certain types of eucalyptus leaves.

The Meerkats are on the lookout for any predators, this one kept darting it’s head back and forth at every bird and plane! A meerkat family will use about 5 burrows at a time, each being roughly 5 meters long.

The koalas weren’t the only sleepy ones, this lion was so tired that his tongue was sticking out! Reminds me of our cat Sadi…she’s always laying around with her tongue sticking out.

The polar bears were happy and sleepy too, I think we hit them all at siesta time!

All of the enclosures were HUGE and very clean. San Diego knows how to do a zoo.

They’ve got a sun bear… Look at those claws! They need them too, being the smallest bears around.

This little arctic fox has a little limp due to a surgery. And the zoo tells you that! They put a sign up telling why an animal has an injury so you don’t worry.

Animals aren’t the only thing they have, Look at this flower! They’ve got flowers and interesting plants all over the place!

They have Capybara in with the Llamas. Most of the exhibits have a sign showing you how big the animals used to be or how they have evolved. Like the one in the right picture! It’s not the same species but it’s their cousin from North America (which turn out to be extinct), and they were much bigger than they are now.

The tiger was just laying there looking around. I think he was too comfortable to move.  A tiger’s roar can be heard up to three kilometers away!

And then there was the hippo. While we were there we learned that hippos don’t actually swim, but walk. And all this time I thought they swam!

Elephants are super smart. The zookeepers put up contraptions with treats, and it didn’t take long for the elephants to learn how it works! Once one elephant got it, the others watched and found out.

Now the giraffes are something else. Let’s just say after watching them for a little, I will never let one lick my hand…

I think these flowers are called Paradise Birds and they look so neat! Almost like a bird…

They have a neat Skyfari. While you can’t really see any of the animals while you’re on it, it is a really nice view. It runs real smoothly. The San Diego Zoo has actually been open for over 100 years! It opened in 1916!

I have never been to  a zoo that has a Serval in it. At first I thought it was an ocelot but after getting a closer look I realized I was wrong. Servals are very successful hunters, catching fifty percent of their prey. Other big cats only catch about ten percent!

The flamingos were very pretty, and the smell wasn’t as bad as it was at other zoos!

This little magpie is a talkative bird! It would fly around and say hi to us!

This is the Secretary bird, I couldn’t help but think of Fawkes the phoenix on Harry Potter.

They had a peacock roaming around and yelling at people, I am pretty sure this one was trying to fight the tour bus they have. It looked right at the bus and yelled at it.

They raise their cheetahs with some big dogs, I think it’s really nice. The reasoning behind it is pretty interesting. A zoologist found that dogs have a calming effect on cheetahs, and since this cheetah is an ambassador animal (goes to offsite events for demonstrations and what not) then she’ll need all the calmness she can get!

Now before we go any further, I must warn you, you are about to see awesomeness. You have been warned.

It’s time for the best part of the zoo. THE PANDAS!!! They have a nice enclosure for the pandas, but if you want to see them get there early, the line gets pretty long. Make sure you grab a map at the front too, you’re going to need it. While they do have red pandas, we couldn’t find them. They are masters of stealth! I am bummed about not being able to see the red pandas but we saw the giant pandas!!

Well this zoo definitely deserves 5 stars, it’s so clean and big. I didn’t see a single animal that wasn’t happy and healthy! Well done San Diego, you made it to the top 5 zoos on my list.

See y’all at the zoo!!

#worldofzoo

Written by Nicholas
San Diego Part Two

San Diego Part Two

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Hey Guys!! We spent two weeks in the San Diego area and didn’t even scratch the surface on everything in the area to do. I went through most of what we did in our post Seen in San Diego, but there is a little left to tell you…so let’s get started.

We went to La Jolla to see the seals. I have mixed feelings about this. On one side, it was really neat to see the seals chilling out on the beach!  But, on the other side…people were actually making their children touch and sit right next to wild seals. I mean…really? They’re wild animals! And they will bite! Sheesh people!

One of my favorite things we did while in the San Diego area was a hike at Torrey Pines State Natural Reserve where they are preserving one of the nation’s rarest pine trees, the Pinus torreyana. I mean…Guys…look at that view! We spent an entire morning hiking around on various trails, soaking up the sun and enjoying the view.

We spent quite a bit of time near the ocean in 2016 as we explored the east coast. We’ve missed it. I don’t think we realized how much we missed it until we were standing there looking at that view and feeling the ocean breeze on our faces.

One of Jerl’s favorite breweries is Stone. We made it up to Escondido to take a tour. We’ve been to a few other brewery tours, but none were on the scale that Stone was. They brew hundreds of gallons at a time. That’s a lot of beer! It’s always fun to see the differences in the breweries and hearing the stories of how they got started.

One of the main reasons we visited San Diego was to go to the zoo. Nicholas had been looking forward to this zoo visit for a very long time. The San Diego zoo is by far the biggest zoo we’ve visited so far. We spent the entire day there and we still somehow missed a whole section. There is a bus tour you can take if your feet get tired. And, there’s a skyfari that you can ride from the back of the zoo to the front! There are some shows…but we missed them all.  I think you really need two full days to see this entire zoo.

Nicholas, of course, was all about the panda exhibit. He’s doing a whole zoo review next week so I’ll let him give you all the details on the zoo visit.

And…the pretties! When we were in New Mexico and Arizona I kept looking for tons of spring flowers, but didn’t see very many so when we got to San Diego…and there were flowers everywhere…I loved it!! I was in flower heaven! I can’t believe I got a picture of a hummingbird feeding in the top picture!

Well, that’s it for the San Diego area this time. We left so much undone that we will have to come back at some point.

See y’all down the road!

#westernloop
Nomadiversary Number Three

Nomadiversary Number Three

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Hey Guys!! It’s that time again! Today is our three year nomadiversary!! Three years!! It’s hard to believe we’ve been on this nomadic adventure since 2015. We’ve had quite the year. I thought I’d take you through the highlights and some lowlights of our year.

We started our third year out in Michigan and found out how awesome Michigan really is. None of us were ready to leave and all of us have spoken often of returning. We went in the wrong season…it was bitterly cold for most of our visit, but that didn’t deter us from enjoying the sights and foodies.

Kentucky will always hold a special place in our hearts. We loved the rolling hills of horse pastures, the many distilleries, and the bourbon balls. If I’m being totally honest, I might have a slight obsession with bourbon balls. One of our favorite distilleries to visit is the Woodford Reserve Distillery. The setting, the tour, the chocolate… It has the trifecta of tours!

Tennessee is another state that had a good vibe for us. Nicholas was a willing mural model while we hunted down the many murals that can be found in Nashville.

We also found the foodie scene to be filled with ah-mazing foodies. We still dream of Pepperfire Chicken’s Nashville Hot Chicken.

When in Memphis…you eat BBQ, BBQ, and more BBQ! And that’s exactly what we did! We had BBQ for every meal we could and still don’t feel like we got a sampling of everything the area has to offer.

We have mixed feelings about Memphis. On one hand you’ve got Elvis, Beal St., and BBQ, but on the other hand…we saw so much poverty and homelessness and rough rundown neighborhoods. We weren’t as at ease in Memphis. That kind of takes away some of the sparkle from the experience. We’re glad we went! But, I’m not sure we’ll go back.

Oh, Arkansas…we learned all about chigger nests while we were hiking through Hot Springs National Park. Well, let me clarify that statement…the boys learned all about chigger nests…Jerl and I already knew about them. Somehow, Jerl was the only one unscathed by the massive amount of chiggers we found. The rest of us spent weeks itching all over. Weeks…

We also learned all about the Little Rock Nine and what they went through. If you ever get the chance to visit this National Historic Site, do. It will change you.

I can’t do a review of our third year without mentioning the eclipse! This is an experience we will all be talking about the rest of our lives. We couldn’t have picked a better place to experience this eclipse. The place, the people…and the weather all made it the awesome memory we hold in our hearts.

We found one of our favorite places in Texas this year. Palo Duro State Park just south of Amarillo will take your breath away! We spent several days exploring as much as we could of the “Grand Canyon of Texas” and still didn’t see everything we wanted to.

We got to hike up to the top of Texas on Thanksgiving Day while visiting Guadalupe Mountains National Park. This NPS unit is out in the middle of nowhere and took us over an hour to drive there, but it was worth it. It was a Thanksgiving we will never forget!

We’d been to New Mexico before. We spent several weeks exploring New Mexico back in 2015, but we found new places to explore. Carlsbad Caverns National Park was a pleasant surprise for us. Not only did we thoroughly enjoy Carlsbad, NM…we also loved Carlsbad Caverns NP! If you go prepare to spend the entire day and don’t dismiss the hiking trails above ground.

Sitting Bull Falls National Recreation Area was definitely worth the drive. The falls themselves aren’t really anything to write home about, but the area around the falls was so fun to explore. We spent quite a bit of time picking our way around the pools and rocks at the base of the falls.

New Mexico is on our top five list of states. If I’m being honest, it’s probably in the second spot just behind Alaska. We learned that not all forts have high walls while visiting Fort Union National Monument. That was new for us. All of the other forts we’ve ever visited have been enclosed in high defensible walls so it was very interesting to learn about Fort Union and the role it’s had over the years. We also got to walk on part of the Santa Fe Trail there!

Arizona taught us that we can’t get enough of those red rocks. We could easily spend a season exploring all of the trails in and around Sedona, AZ. It’s something we’re seriously considering…to spend an entire season or two in the Sedona area.

Arizona is also on our top five. The sunsets there are epic. I have to many sunset pics from Arizona and they’re all just as amazing as the one above.

I can’t talk about Arizona and leave out Lost Dutchman State Park. We were able to stay there back in 2015 and again in 2017 during our third year of nomadic travel. Both times have left us wanting more.

While we won’t get to officially add California to our map until June, we’ve been in California for a solid month now. We’ve experienced an earthquake and survived the Santa Ana Winds in an RV. We learned quite a bit about some of the different kinds of palm trees and yuccas while in the Desert Hot Springs area.

We learned about being flexible with our schedule this year. Jerl had to have two eye surgeries and our home-on-wheels needed a new engine so our plans changed quite a bit over our third year.

We didn’t travel as much as we wanted to during our third year, but it is what it is. Life happens and all you can do is make the best of it. We ended up driveway camping at my (Jennie’s) parent’s house for 25 weeks this year, which means we only traveled 27 weeks in total. I feel like we still got quite a bit of exploring done though.

Annnddd…our toad decided to take a joy ride and race us down the highway. We learned sooo much from that experience. We now lock any pin that could be tampered with/bounce loose/fall out. We do not want to have to experience this lesson again. It was nerve-wracking enough the first (and hopefully only) time.

Life is about the little things…all of the little moments that make up the journey. The biggest lesson we learned this year is that life on the road isn’t always easy. It’s not always fun and games and exploring, but like any lifestyle…you have to decide if it’s worth it. For us, right now, it’s still worth it. We still enjoy living in our home-on-wheels and traveling the country like the crazy nomad family that we are.

Thanks for being apart of our journey!

See y’all down the road!
Pizza Roundup Woodstock Pizza

Pizza Roundup Woodstock Pizza

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To my fellow pizza lovers! I bring you a post after long break! This time from San Diego, CA.

Woodstock has some really tasty pizza, and a good deal on all you can eat by the slice!

But if you decide to go with a full pie then there are some arcade games you can play while you wait! (I had to play some pinball.)

As you can see they weren’t super busy. Works for us, we got our food faster! The restaurant is nice and clean and service is great! Now I didn’t have any wings but…

They look REALLY good! My brother said they had a really good flavor.

They have a variety of pizza to choose from for by the slice, and the options look good!

The one time I decided not to get pepperoni was at a pizza place that has all you can eat pepperoni pizza, but I couldn’t pass up on a carnitas pizza! They rolled the crust at the outside and it really added, they had sauce under that rolled part! Now I don’t know about y’all, but this place needs 5 stars.

See y’all next time on…

Pizza Street!!

#pizzastreet

And don’t forget to check out my new Instagram account! Come find me @ https://www.instagram.com/rvkid04

Written by Nicholas