please... don't read this.

because this is the post in which i shall be intentionally guilty of one of the most annoying habits of personal bloggers:
endless animal pictures.

compounding the offense, they are vacation animal pictures. vacation zoo animal pictures.
there, i warned you.

on monday, we visited san diego's wild animal park (i suppose not, technically, a zoo) with joel's mom and stepdad. the weather was perfect, and the animals ... accomodating. :)
we started our tour with a truck ride around the park, narrated by a perky blond with a penchant for puns.

the park was huge and open - the closest thing i've ever seen to an african savannah. don't be fooled though - one of america's largest cities is just over that hill.

the animals are kept in as natural of habitats as possible - aka, not in separate cages. (though they do have to keep the zebras separate because they will pull everyone else's tails out, according to the perky blond.)

this is just about the best angle on this poor creature - he's missing one of his horns!

"little" baby giraffes ... ^_^

of course, not all the animals wanted to be observed...

i didn't initially realize that the vehicle here was fake. somehow after that i find these photos slightly less humorous, though no less cute!

i experienced a post-lion camera meltdown (dead battery), but karen brought hers as well. crisis averted. i'm not quite sure how to explain these next two photos. there was an opportunity to feed little cups of nectar to lorikeets. we fed the lorikeets. joel fed one or two sedate lorikeets, and i fed five or more in a hitchcock-esque whirl of claws and color.
honestly, i think they were lured by my stones shirt. someone should notify mick jagger of his tongue's odd effect on lorikeets.