San Diego Wild Animal Park, pt. 2

Ken and Doug at the entrance to the park. Ken's scooter really had a workout, from hills to gravel paths.
The meerket enclosure. They are such neat social creatures.

A beautiful gazelle of some type.

The tram took us around the wild animal park in about a 20 minute tour. I wish I'd known there was a photo tour you could take. You're in a open jeep that spends a couple hours inside the individual enclosures, allowing a close encounter with the wildlife.

The trip to San Diego was fun and a nice break from Alaska. Time to face reality and head back to cold, snow and an active volcano.

San Diego Wild Animal Park

This enormous wildlife sanctuary contains a vast collection of animals from all over the world. It also was the location for much of the Jurassic Park movies. A tram takes you though the park with stops to see animals roaming free.

Walking trails cross streams and waterfalls. Along with the wonderful animals are all types of plants showcasing tropical plants from all over.

It's a beautiful place to spend the dayl

Don't ask me. It's an antelope of some type.

Don't you love flamingos?

Scenes around San Diego

One of the huge railroad layouts in the Railroad Museum in Balboa Park. This museum is an act of love. Many of the layouts are exact replicas of railroads of eras past, including replicas of the towns, mines, railroad trestles, parts of San Diego's railroads and ports. Future replicas are laid out in design and photos to show what is being built.

The Botanical Gardens inside of Balboa Park. The most beautiful orchids are in this garden. It smells wonderful and the trickle of small waterfalls throughout this building make it a wonderful place to walk.
The Botanical Garden building. A wonderful place to spend several hours.


This building is a replica of a theatrical hall in Europe. Unfortunately, I don't know anything about it except that it's beautiful.

One of the many waterfalls in the park.

A few miles away is an indoor go-cart track. Very fast, very loud. After 20 minutes of screaming around the track I had enough.

San Diego, the USS Midway

My best bud Ken and his son Doug, on the way to the USS Midway. Ken has trashed his knees and we rented a scooter for the trip so he could get around. Doug lives in San Diego and is retired Navy.

The Navy has taken the aircraft carrier USS Midway and turned it into a museum. They did a wonderful job, both exhibits on the Navy, the history of the carrier and the service it had during it's long history starting in WWII. This is the flight deck, basically the runway.

The bridge and conning tower. Many jets and helicopters are on display on the flight deck, showing the history of the aircraft that have operated off the carrier.

Ken enjoying the aircraft on display. He and I are both ex-Air Force and our love of aircraft generates a lot of friendly discussion. He played with the big planes, I played with the fighter jets.

The last aircraft I worked on was the F4E (the Phantom) in the Air Force. The Navy had their own version. I will always have a soft spot for it. Long retired, the only ones still flying are in the National Guard, in South Korea. I suddenly feel old.

Ken and Doug at the bow overlook. Ken's scooter couldn't quite make the climb back up the incline and Doug had to push.

And of course, the restored WWII fighters. From the Mustang, the Corsairs, the P51, they were all on display. Beautiful works of art, some with fancy paint jobs. There were several simulators in the hanger bay for people to try with 360 degree action. As close to flying as you can get. Kids were lined up for all of them. I would have loved to try one. The Midway is well worth a day or more to see all the exhibits and history.

San Diego, April 2009

I took a week and traveled to San Diego a couple weeks ago. Alaska is in the middle of breakup, a volcanic eruption and that equals mud, mud, mud. Time to go somewhere else, smell the flowers, sit by a pool and relax.


Downtown San Diego is so different from Anchorage. Beautiful, warm, clean and full of glass towers. Do you know I didn't see a single dirty car the whole time I was there?

Wide sidewalks, beautiful landscapes and places to enjoy the green grass. I could enjoy this area for a very long time. If only it wasn't to expensive to live there.

The scenery around the waterfront, from the deck of the USS Midway. The beginning of April and everything is green and blooming.

Amazing statue. A tribute to the Navy sailors returning to port after sea duty.