A Day at the Wild Animal Park

Back when our kids were still stroller sized we had memberships in the San Diego Zoo and Wild Animal Park which allowed us to enter either park whenever we wanted. Because both parks were at least 90 minutes from our house, we didn't go often and after a year or two we dropped the membership.

However, like the elephants they have on display, the San Diego Zoo people never forget and they keep sending us reminders to reup our membership. This time they took it one step further and sent us a free 2-month pass that will allow us to visit through the end of the year. The Mrs. and I decided to go to the Wild Animal Park today. Here are some shots I took before I dropped my camera and broke the battery door:
Actal conversation about the above photo:

Me: What is that?
Mrs.: It's an Okapi.
Me: Nope, I'm pretty sure it's the real thing.
Mrs.: Ugh.

Since we last visited there the park has done away with the WGASA Bush Line, the monorail which took visitors all around the habitats. They've replaced it with a bus tour that gets you a little closer to the animals, but doesn't cover nearly as much territory. It was a little disappointing, especially since we sat on the right side of the bus and you couldn't see as well over there. I tried to take some photos of the animals:

The Park has also added an attraction that I hadn't done before:
That balloon is 400 feet in the air above the park, and for a few bucks, you can get on. I decided to take a flight and got some nice shots of the park and the San Pasqual Valley from on high (the Mrs. stayed on the ground):
It was fun, but you can pretty much see what you want to see at the Park in 4 hours or so, and be prepared to walk a lot. The terrain is hilly and you need to go quite a ways to see the animals out in the valley.