"I'll Do You One Better: Why is Gamora?" (WDW Vets Visit Cali, April/May 2019) Completed 6/23

Tracy161 · May 22, 2019

Raeven said:
I wonder if he always waits till he has a captive audience (literally) to launch into such topics

I think you already know the answer... :rotfl:

Raeven said:
I thought this donkey was the cutest thing ever :

Awww, I agree completely!!! :goodvibes

Raeven said:

Awesome picture!

Raeven said:

I'm

on each one of these!

Raeven said:
I don't know if they were just being annoying on purpose (they were adults) or if they really didn't understand, but they kept yelling at the dog to run.

Raeven said:
This mother monkey was not having it when the baby monkey tried to get off the rock

Raeven said:
Suffice to say I'll see her sooner than I thought so I might just give it to her then.

Ooooh, excited to hear this! :hyper:

Raeven said:
and the next day is a very exciting day filled with foxes, gorgeous views, and delicious food!

Yay!!! I'm so excited to hear about your fox encounter :goodvibes

PlutosRHM55 · May 22, 2019

What a fun day at the San Diego zoo! That Skyfari is high, I'd be mega nervous if I was up there too. Love all the pics of the sleepy animals especially the polar bear, how precious. AND YAY FOR SLYTHERIN PRIDE!! (even though I'm not a fan of snakes... the animal).

Also, memo to me to get back into Crazy Ex Girlfriend because songs from it stalk me everywhere and I started it but only watched one episode years ago. Ugh.

Cloe Colton · May 22, 2019

Fellow Slytherin here!

San Diego Zoo is definitely on my list of places I want to go! Someday, looks really great!

missangelalexis · May 22, 2019

What a fun day! You saw so many different animals and got great pics!

xlsm · May 22, 2019

Raeven said:
Maybe I can brave those gondolas in Sep @xlsm

You can do it!! I believe in you!!

Raeven said:

Awww!!!

Raeven said:
Around this time I bought @xlsm a rhino hat, but I can't reveal which one because I've been lazy and haven't sent it to her But I have a surprise to announce in my next PTR update that's she's already mentioned in hers...Suffice to say I'll see her sooner than I thought so I might just give it to her then.

Since you shared the I go to the zoo song with me before, i can't not hear it when anything zoo related comes up, LOL!!

amalone1013 · May 22, 2019

Raeven said:
I were walking around with a container of dead fish on purpose just to upset people in the crowd.

Well obviously.

Raeven said:
Does anyone else remember “Master of Disguise”? I used to love that movie as a kid and I sent my dad a text with this quote in it and he responded with the next line which is “Turtle, turtle” right away

Ahhh I forgot that movie!

Raeven said:
I hate to disappoint again, but much like our trip to Seaworld Orlando this wasn't ride focused. We actually didn't ride any rides at all We spent a lot of the day sampling different festival dishes.

Well Zack made me go on the darn water ride there in FEBRUARY and FIRST THING IN THE MORNING and we got wet :mad:

Raeven said:
Like I mentioned before I love watching sea lions do tricks , and these shows always have adorable little otters in them too.

I love these types of shows too! Also I had to giggle becasue the stage is EXACTLY the same as when we went 4 years ago, even the little posters and the OTTER guy! :rotfl:

Raeven said:
Wait, someone spoiled part of the movie for you as you walked into the theater?

Yeah, some girl who was maybe 12 came out with her dad and brother and as they passed us she was saying, I liked her and they killed her!

Raeven said:
Speaking of pandas, it was the pandas last weekend at the zoo. From what I've heard the pandas are on loan from China and even the ones born in the U.S. are property of China. The loan was coming to an end, and I think most (if not all) the pandas were going back. Some had already gone, and the ones that were left were sleeping. Panda Canyon is one of their most popular attractions and we waited in line for awhile to see the panda, there was another one as well but her line was closed when we finished with this one.

Oh, I didn't realize they were going away :sad:

Raeven said:
For those that don't know dogs and cheetahs frequently become friends when introduced to each other (usually when they’re young). If you don't believe me google it, it's adorable.

Yes! They even had them out on stage together at the animal show when we went, the current cheetah and dog pals. It was either a lab or a Golden Retriever. They said it makes the cheetah easier to work with for the keepers.

StarWarsMomofGirls! · May 22, 2019

Raeven said:
There were some events going on in Balboa Park that day so we got stuck in traffic for a little bit. This is when our Lyft driver (who grew up near where we live) decided it was a good time to talk about the economy in our area...back in the 60's. I wonder if he always waits till he has a captive audience (literally) to launch into such topics

Yikes! This is why I don't love cabs / lyft rides. Random conversations that you are literally trapped into having.

Raeven said:
For those that don't know dogs and cheetahs frequently become friends when introduced to each other (usually when they’re young). If you don't believe me google it, it's adorable.

I did NOT know that! Interesting. Very Cute.

So, was the zoo worth it? Or just another zoo?

Raeven · May 23, 2019

Tracy161 said:
Awesome picture!

Thank you!

Tracy161 said:
Awww, I agree completely!!!

I felt like the donkey needed some love and attention because no one else was over there. I know a donkey is probably a boring animal to see at the zoo for most people, but she was so cute!

Tracy161 said:
I'm on each one of these!

You should watch the music video even if you don't know the context from the show it's still hilarious :rotfl:

PlutosRHM55 said:
What a fun day at the San Diego zoo! That Skyfari is high, I'd be mega nervous if I was up there too. Love all the pics of the sleepy animals especially the polar bear, how precious. AND YAY FOR SLYTHERIN PRIDE!! (even though I'm not a fan of snakes... the animal).

It actually wasn't as bad as I thought once we got up there. It was over pretty fast too.

Yes! :thumbsup2

PlutosRHM55 said:
Also, memo to me to get back into Crazy Ex Girlfriend because songs from it stalk me everywhere and I started it but only watched one episode years ago. Ugh.

Ooo yes watch it! I loved that show. Although I do have to finish up the last season still.

Cloe Colton said:
Fellow Slytherin here!

San Diego Zoo is definitely on my list of places I want to go! Someday, looks really great!

It was really fun!

xlsm said:
You can do it!! I believe in you!!

I was feeling confident but as I say that the dis podcast literally just started talking about how watching they need to hire more firefighters and Disney isn't paying to hire more and their specific concern is that they don't have enough people to rescue people getting stuck in the gondolas :confused3

xlsm said:
Since you shared the I go to the zoo song with me before, i can't not hear it when anything zoo related comes up, LOL!!

I started singing it at the zoo and Josh was like wow you have that memorized :rotfl:

amalone1013 said:
Ahhh I forgot that movie!

I think a lot of people want to forget about that movie :laughing:

Luckily, I saw it as a child so my only memory is of it being good.

amalone1013 said:
Well Zack made me go on the darn water ride there in FEBRUARY and FIRST THING IN THE MORNING and we got wet

Ah! I actually kind of wanted to ride that but it was down, and it was a little chilly.

amalone1013 said:
I love these types of shows too! Also I had to giggle becasue the stage is EXACTLY the same as when we went 4 years ago, even the little posters and the OTTER guy!

We figured it hadn't been updated in awhile because the finale was to "Gangnam Style" and that song was the "cool" thing like 8 years ago :rotfl:

amalone1013 said:
Yeah, some girl who was maybe 12 came out with her dad and brother and as they passed us she was saying, I liked her and they killed her!

Ugh, that sucks! We went to like the second showing the day before it came out so the first showing people were still in a different theater and there was no chance of spoilers.

amalone1013 said:
Yes! They even had them out on stage together at the animal show when we went, the current cheetah and dog pals. It was either a lab or a Golden Retriever. They said it makes the cheetah easier to work with for the keepers.

I love it!

StarWarsMomofGirls! said:
Yikes! This is why I don't love cabs / lyft rides. Random conversations that you are literally trapped into having

Yeah, I don't really like conversing with strangers :rotfl:

I've heard for Uber (like the more expensive options) have introduced a button to ask for quiet and people were of mixed opinion on it. (It seems like a thing a lot of people ask for, but also a lot of people think it's rude to not converse with strangers?) Sometimes I wear earphones in a Lyft/Uber if it'll be awhile, but I didn't really do it this trip because we were never traveling too far.

StarWarsMomofGirls! said:
So, was the zoo worth it? Or just another zoo?

Yes! I think it's the best zoo I've ever been to. (I did go to the Bronx Zoo once too but I was like 10 and don't really remember it). Out of the ones I've been to since I've been older it's definitely the best one. I would like to go back to the Bronx Zoo again though and see if we like it better.

amalone1013 · May 23, 2019

Raeven said:
We figured it hadn't been updated in awhile because the finale was to "Gangnam Style" and that song was the "cool" thing like 8 years ago

Raeven said:
Ah! I actually kind of wanted to ride that but it was down, and it was a little chilly.

I had to go poke around on the website to refresh. We went on the hybrid coaster/flume ride. I guess it was one of the first of that type? Zack is the roller coaster history buff. There is a part like an elevator inside the tower, and there are supposed to be effects that go with the story line but they weren't on when we went so we were just confused. Also we went on the gondola ride at SW, and THAT is the scariest one I've been on and they normally dont bother me. Apparently it has the longest span between towers ever for one of those, which we found out later. But just riding it they felt far apart and it dipped so far down between them. But the views were great since it runs across the bay. We also got to see into the show amphitheater that was closed when we went. (Lots of things were closed, and they only had 2 QS open and no snack carts. We ate at one because we won free lunch by being in the right place at the right time... the Beluga whales. I was probably singing that song :rotfl:

) And apparently the gondola used to take you to a restaurant but it closed who knows when, so you just go through the other station. But it just feels like it would be easy to jump off or something :confused3

Raeven · May 23, 2019

amalone1013 said:
I had to go poke around on the website to refresh. We went on the hybrid coaster/flume ride. I guess it was one of the first of that type? Zack is the roller coaster history buff. There is a part like an elevator inside the tower, and there are supposed to be effects that go with the story line but they weren't on when we went so we were just confused. Also we went on the gondola ride at SW, and THAT is the scariest one I've been on and they normally dont bother me. Apparently it has the longest span between towers ever for one of those, which we found out later. But just riding it they felt far apart and it dipped so far down between them. But the views were great since it runs across the bay. We also got to see into the show amphitheater that was closed when we went. (Lots of things were closed, and they only had 2 QS open and no snack carts. We ate at one because we won free lunch by being in the right place at the right time... the Beluga whales. I was probably singing that song ) And apparently the gondola used to take you to a restaurant but it closed who knows when, so you just go through the other station. But it just feels like it would be easy to jump off or something

Yeah the Journey to Atlantis one. They actually have another water ride now too, but we skipped them both.

Did you hear the recent story about the people who got stuck on the gondola ride for hours? https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...s-stranded-stalled-gondola-ride-hours-n972991

I actually think it was still closed when we went, but after reading that I wouldn't have gone on it.

amalone1013 · May 23, 2019

Raeven said:
Yeah the Journey to Atlantis one. They actually have another water ride now too, but we skipped them both.

Did you hear the recent story about the people who got stuck on the gondola ride for hours? https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-new...s-stranded-stalled-gondola-ride-hours-n972991

I actually think it was still closed when we went, but after reading that I wouldn't have gone on it.

Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh noooooooooooooooooo

Hard pass.

StarWarsMomofGirls! · May 23, 2019

Raeven said:
Yes! I think it's the best zoo I've ever been to. (I did go to the Bronx Zoo once too but I was like 10 and don't really remember it). Out of the ones I've been to since I've been older it's definitely the best one. I would like to go back to the Bronx Zoo again though and see if we like it better.

We were at the Bronx Zoo last year. It's ok. I actually perfer the Philadelphia Zoo over the Bronx Zoo. But the Washington DC Zoo is my favorite. Mostly because it was Elephants!

amalone1013 · May 23, 2019

StarWarsMomofGirls! said:
We were at the Bronx Zoo last year. It's ok. I actually perfer the Philadelphia Zoo over the Bronx Zoo. But the Washington DC Zoo is my favorite. Mostly because it was Elephants!

Omaha Zoo.....

Now I'm biased of course, but the Omaha Zoo is very highly rated and enormous so if you ever find yourself that way and enjoy zoos, I'd definitely put it on the list!

StarWarsMomofGirls! · May 23, 2019

I love it! It's the Great Zoo Debate!

Raeven · May 23, 2019

StarWarsMomofGirls! said:
We were at the Bronx Zoo last year. It's ok. I actually perfer the Philadelphia Zoo over the Bronx Zoo. But the Washington DC Zoo is my favorite. Mostly because it was Elephants!

So to be honest I haven't been to a ton of zoos. Only Bronx, Syracuse, and Franklin Park other than San Diego. I've heard the Bronx Zoo is good, but don't remember much of it. This was definitely the best one I've been to out of those. (Oh, and I also count AK, but that's like an amazing zoo and a theme park so there's no topping that :rotfl:

).

amalone1013 said:
Omaha Zoo.....

Now I'm biased of course, but the Omaha Zoo is very highly rated and enormous so if you ever find yourself that way and enjoy zoos, I'd definitely put it on the list!

Definitely, if we're going to a new place zoos and aquariums is always something I look at!

Raeven · May 23, 2019

*video is unavailable*

Raeven · May 26, 2019

Lots of Foxes!
April 29th, Part 1

So we started this morning with brunch at the Farmer's Table in Little Italy.

Farmer's Table Review

Next we were heading to pick up our rental car to head to our fox encounter, and then see what else we could fit in while we had transportation for the day before driving to Anaheim that night. I like to reserve with Alamo because a.) all the insurance extras can be put into the price online so there's no surprises, and b.) they have a drop off at Disney. The only Alamo I could find in San Diego was in the airport, and I was afraid picking a car up at the airport might be time consuming; however it was a really fast process since that airport isn't too big.
It was probably the coldest day of our trip, and we were going to the mountains in Santa Ysabel where it was even colder (in the 40's). It felt like NY to us :rotfl:

, but the people who worked at the center obviously seemed a lot less used to this kind of weather.

It was about an hour and a half drive to the center, and on the way up we stopped to check out this view:

(This was a few miles away).

The center is called Jabcecc for short, and is an animal sanctuary (in it's beginning phases) the encounter's are helping them build it up. It's run by a husband and wife and has New Guinea singing dogs and foxes there. If you want to read more about their mission I'd check out their website but their goal is conservation and education about the animals they have. They also mention on their website that the center is to help individuals that have conditions that can be helped with animal assisted therapy, and to give people a general understanding of these animals so they appreciate them and want to assist in their conservation.

We were greeted when we arrived by the New Guinea singings dogs, which were so adorable. I didn't have time to take a picture so I'll borrow one from their website, but one jumped up and licked my face :rotfl:

So the foxes are a special kind of domesticated fox. Basically there was a program in Russia over 90 years to see if they could domesticate foxes like dogs. Over the years they've bred what is the domestic fox. They still have a lot of behaviors that you wouldn't find in a dog, but are definitely more friendly with people than a regular fox would be. (Sort of like a cat and dog combo).

There aren't a lot of these in existence, but this center has the most of them in the U.S., I believe. They also have a few rescue foxes which can be more skittish around people so we couldn't pet or hold the one we met. On our encounter we met the 3 domesticated foxes, and one rescue. This is really a one of kind place where you can meet foxes as most fox encounters you can find are for much smaller foxes (fennec foxes), and most foxes do not like being pet or held by strangers. Even people that keep them as pets generally find that they don't bond well to more than one person. These are your standard red foxes although most of them were different colors. The different colors came about because of fur farming, and the selective breeding that's done to get different colored coats.

I was very excited for this because as you may or may not know foxes have been my favorite animal since I was a little kid. I have always wanted to pet or hold one in person, but didn't think it was possible (for the reasons mentioned above).

And as much as I love foxes I'd never get a fox or another exotic pet because it really is a lot of work that goes into keeping them, and people who don't research before they decide to get one are why so many end up without homes.

@Lesley Wake mentioned this place to me last year (I think after there was a Buzzfeed article written about it) and the owners were very surprised and pleased to know that knowledge of the center had spread to other states as they're still in the stages of building and trying to get the word out. When I first looked there was nothing for our dates, but one day In Jan the Monday during our trip popped up and I grabbed it without even thinking. (It was about $150 which is quite reasonable if you've ever taken or looked at taking a private tour of a sanctuary usually the price is much higher. We looked at a different sanctuary in Santa Clarita that was about $400). Apparently our date had actually been put up by accident (I think they usually do Saturdays) so I'm glad I grabbed it when I did.

Like I said it was rainy and cold so not ideal out, but there was a tarp over their enclosure. However the foxes seemed to really like playing in the mud and rain :rotfl:

so without further ado here's a million pictures of foxes!

This is one of the domesticated foxes Maksa:

Joining her here is Viktor another domesticated fox:

(Viktor looks the most like a traditional red fox).

Our encounter was about 45-60 mins of playing with the foxes/watching them play and eat treats.
And petting them :lovestruc

This is the final domesticated fox Mikhail:

Viktor even came right up to Josh and jumped in his lap at another point :rotfl:

And finally this is Ishka (the rescue fox):

We couldn't pet her because her behavior is a little bit more unpredictable than the domesticated ones, but mostly she just hid under me and popped out from under the bench in a hilarious manner :rotfl:

They all were so gorgeous but I loved that they all had different personalities.
:lovestruc

Before we left we each got to hold Viktor. They were like usually we have people hold him but he is covered in mud, and I was like I don't care! :rotfl:

We had to hold his feet because if they were not supported and just waving everywhere there's a chance he might have accidentally scratched us with the nails on his back paws.
:lovestruc

Overall it was a great experience, and I would totally do it again if I were in the area. I felt a little badly because I'm not the most talkative with people I don't know and I was in "fox awe" as Josh calls it so he kind of carried the conversation with the sanctuary owners.
I do love what they're doing there though, and I had a great time. I just didn't have many questions because I read so much fox stuff already :rotfl:

I also do want to mention that I definitely did as much research on this place as I could before I went because I wouldn't pay to go to a place that was sketchy or treated their animals badly, and I can say without a doubt that those animals are part of their family and they really want to establish this sanctuary to help animals and educate/help people with animals.

I actually think the fox encounter was the thing most people asked us questions about when we got back, but the most puzzling one came from Josh's mom who couldn't believe there were real foxes you could pet so she asked us "Did you get to pet mechanical foxes?" :confused:

like wouldn't it be weirder if someone built a bunch of robot foxes? :laughing:

Next Up
La Jolla Cove/traveling to Anaheim

Lesley Wake · May 26, 2019

That sanctuary looks so cool! I’ll have to look into visiting myself!

And yeah, I did hear about it on Buzzfeed!

PlutosRHM55 · May 26, 2019

Omg I need to go to that sanctuary. I've always found foxes so pretty and cute. I'd die if I got to pet one and hold it. I'd need someone to go with just like you because I'd be in fox awe and it would be so awkward for the owners. It really is amazing what they are doing. ESAs, service animals, etc are so much more common and it's great they are trying to spread awareness on what animals can do that. Ugh, I NEED TO GO NOW!

Love all your photos and I would have that same face you had while holding Viktor. Probably wouldn't put him down lol

Raeven · May 27, 2019

Lesley Wake said:
That sanctuary looks so cool! I’ll have to look into visiting myself!

And yeah, I did hear about it on Buzzfeed!

You should! They were really happy that people had read the Buzzfeed article they said, they thought it was really cute.

PlutosRHM55 said:
Omg I need to go to that sanctuary. I've always found foxes so pretty and cute. I'd die if I got to pet one and hold it. I'd need someone to go with just like you because I'd be in fox awe and it would be so awkward for the owners. It really is amazing what they are doing. ESAs, service animals, etc are so much more common and it's great they are trying to spread awareness on what animals can do that. Ugh, I NEED TO GO NOW!

Yes! It was amazing!

PlutosRHM55 said:
Love all your photos and I would have that same face you had while holding Viktor. Probably wouldn't put him down lol

Lol I didn't want to :rotfl:

"I'll Do You One Better: Why is Gamora?" (WDW Vets Visit Cali, April/May 2019) Completed 6/23

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