Go on Safari

Karin and I hadn’t been on a trip for a few weeks so we decided to take a short one to Africa. It was really a short one – only two days long. We signed up for a tour that was called the Roar and Snore.

We didn’t have to go too far because it was in Escondido, California, at the Wild Country Safari Park. We checked in on Saturday – spent Saturday night in a tent in the middle of the Safari Park – and took a Safari van through the park on Sunday morning to get up close and personal with the animals. Sunday afternoon we came home.

It went very well. The lions that we were close to roared all night long and I don’t know if we snored or not – I was asleep – but I do know that we had a good time. The trip through the park in the Safari van took us down to where we could actually hand feed some of the animals. We fed eucalyptus leaves to the giraffe – slices of apple to the rhinoceros and granola bars to ourselves.

We walked over to see the lions. They were behind a glass wall. One of the people in our tour – there were 14 of us – had a small care dog with him in a basket on the front his power Walker. The lions paid no attention to us. They were sleepily hanging out until one of them spotted the dog.

That lion that spotted the dog came to attention, and the entire time we were there paced back and forth, staring at where the dog was. They finally hid the dog behind a bush so he was out of sight and the lion continued to stare at the bush until we left. Lesson learned – if you ever go to Africa and go on Safari be sure not to look like a dog.

Rent a Kayak

image @ John Reseck Jr

When I moved to California from Washington State, I sold most of my kayaks. I had seven when I moved and only kept one to bring with me. I found that in my new home I had no place to store it, and I had no car to carry it. My little fit could handle it, but with great care. Karin and I decided to rent a kayak and go for a paddle in Newport Harbor.

I hadn’t paddled for two years and didn’t realize how much I missed it. We rented a double. What fun! I think we’re going to be doing that quite often. It’s a great together activity, along with being a superb full body exercise, if you paddle hard, and just a wonderful way to kill an afternoon if you paddle easy and take your lunch with you and a few pieces of hard candy. Most everybody has water close by to them someplace and perhaps the place near you have kayaks for rent. If you’ve never kayaked don’t be frightened of one. They won’t turn over and drown you.

If you’re a fisherman there great to fish from; if you’re an exercise fanatic you can get all of it you can handle in the boat. Depending on how hard you paddle or you can just suck on the hard candy and enjoy the day. You have total control over your ship, Enjoy.