Intermission part 2....

A continued break from road trip.. :)

Christmas eve morning we went to the zoo with our friend Suzanne to see Orangutans Indah and her baby Aisha, the 9 month old Clouded Leopard before mom and I headed over to the Safari Park to see the Lion Cubs.. 

Satu opening his Christmas presents that had special treats in them.. 

Gandha; 9 month-old Clouded Leopard.. 

 Mom and I ran over to the Safari Park in the afternoon to see the Lion cubs... Ken was still out on exhibit, but Dixie was still off exhibit. We will just have to go back and see her when she is back on exhibit with her brother. They are 18 days old. . 

Just waking up from a nap.. 

While mom was taking pictures of Ken, I was watching / playing with Robert; the Zebra. Robert remembered me from yesterday, which was really cool. We played and sang Jingle Bells together. It was fun! 

Christmas Day... 

Christmas morning we went to the zoo, meeting up with Bob there to photograph Orangutans Indah and her baby Aisha. Indah was all over the place, so we got some good looks. She even went on a platform, and sat her baby; Aisha up on the box making everyone watching nervous despite her always being such a good mommy. She also made her baby a little bed inside a box; one of the present boxes. 

Janey, a much older Orangutan and I hung out a few times together. She really enjoys watching me, and vice versa. 

Satu, the male Orangutan stood up. That was really cool as that was the first time mom and I have ever seen a male Orangutan stand up. He is so big.. 

We said good-bye to Bob and later met up with Helene after she was done with her volunteer Zoo job, and her husband Frank.. We walked around the zoo looking at the Koalas, Giraffes including trying to see the baby (days old), Elephants (learning the difference between the Asian and African Elephants) before we went to our Christmas dinner. 

It was so much fun. After dinner, it was dark, so walking out to the exit of the zoo, and then the car, I got to see all the lights. 

Day after Christmas, mom and I got up, packed up the car and started our drive home. We stopped off at my great Aunts in Dana Point to visit my great grandma. It was so nice to see them. We stayed several hours, really enjoying our visit. That evening, we drove home. 

After spending a few days at home, mom and I headed north to San Francisco.. Besides having to deal with some business, we also visited the baby Gorilla that was finally out on exhibit at the zoo. It was quite chilly, but fun. We also spent some time over at Marin Headlands for sunrise, Crissy Field for sunset. I had such a good time.. 

Grandma adopted the her grand-baby to raise it because the mother couldn't care for it. They were fun to watch, and the baby is so adorable. Unfortunately, taking photos through the glass was very tough mom said.  

This Polar Bear had fun playing in the hills of dirt it has in one of its enclosures it has access to. I think it thought it was Halloween and was trying to pretend to be a Brown Bear. :) 

We went for a long walk one evening along this trail were we had several different viewpoints. It was really nice. 

 Grandma was doing everything she could to get baby Gorilla off her back. She wanted to carry "her baby" in front, but the baby didn't agree so was holding on. 

New Years day, we headed down to Marina, just north of Monterey for two days. One of the days, we spent it along the Big Sur coast watching over 20 Gray Whales pass by heading south, thousands of Risso's Dolphins passing by us consistently for over 2 hours. They were on the move heading north, and could see them from 50 yards out to about 1 mile from shore. It was insane. Mom said she has never seen so many Risso's, but the highlight of our trip was the coastal Bottlenose Dolphins. We came upon 4 groups of Coastal Bottlenose Dolphins within an 1/8 of a mile in the surf along the coast. She counted how many were in the smallest group and there were 40. Wow! They were surfing in the waves as if they were surfers. We were up on a cliff watching them, so mom's photos of them are pretty wide, but she still couldn't get them all in one frame. That is how many there were. 

It was such a gorgeous day. Big Sur was the warmest area up there as Monterey and Marina were chilly and windy. 

Gray Whale heading south along Big Sur.. 

The next morning we went out whale watching with Capt Jim and Kate (Blue Ocean Whale Watch) out of Moss Landing. It was their first day back on the water since getting the new engines. We saw lots of Gray Whales and Risso's Dolphins.. 

And again, it was a gorgeous day out on the water.. 

Then we drove home and I went back to school a couple of days later. :)

I almost forgot.. I have been traveling the world at school, so my last day of school before winter break, I got to bring home all the animals I have made so far while traveling the world. I don't get to bring my passport home until the end of the year my teacher said. So far, I have traveled to Egypt (Camel), Africa (Elephant & Ostrich), Australia (Kangaroo & Koala), Mexico (Donkey)... I wonder what this semester is going to bring... :) Be on the lookout for others.. (excuse mom's name on the photos. somehow during export process it got added to them)

Next post will be the next fun part of my summer road trip.. :) Its going to just get better and better from here on out, so get ready.. :) 

Love,

Kayla