San Diego with the Otters!

Your mom and I had a date with some otters! This story began about a year ago, when someone - someone who knows that your mom is a river otter fanatic - sent her a video of some lucky woman playing in a pool full of small otters. Your mom's reaction was one of utter disdain as she wondered who this ridiculously lucky person could be. "Why does she get to swim with otters?!" was the sense. Well, thanks to the internet's wide reach, I was able to eventually track down the source of the video and where it was shot. Turns out it was filmed at a wildlife sanctuary in our own home state, just south in San Diego! I found them online, thinking I was well ahead of the game in February to get a June birthday present for her, but they were booked until August! I got some August tickets and then sat on it for months. In the end I was lucky since your mom was in the UK for her birthday and would be back just in time to take a little trip to San Diego. We knew it'd be amazing, but that was only the half of it.

It'd been quite a while since we'd been on a plane together for a trip just the two of us. It slowly began to sink in that even though this would be a quick weekender, it was a real vacation for us : ) 

I'd booked us into a wonderfully old fashioned hotel in the heart of the "gaslamp" district of the city, the Horton Grand Hotel. It had a lot of great history, including this original and ornate wooden staircase through the center. 

We found our quickly that the gaslamp area was essentially the dining and drinking district. Up and down a few blocks servers enticed us to come to their happy hours. We hopped around a few places and I got to finally try some San Diego brews in the city itself. 

We took a minute to stop into a shop and noticed a photo booth! We had ice cream at the nearby Ghirardelli shop and starting considering our dinner options. We ended up hitching a ride to the Karl Strauss brewery downtown, where I as able to sample a bit more of the local stuff. 

Our appointment started at 10am and we had a bit of a drive to get up to Valley Center, a hilly area north of San Diego. The name "Nurtured by Nature" explains this small organization's interest in providing wonderful wildlife experiences to children with debilitating or terminal illnesses. Our tickets weren't cheap, but it all went to making sure they could accommodate a lot of kids when they weren't hosting groups like ours. 

The area was a pretty, almost desert-like landscape, and the weather was wonderful. 

We were a bit early so we waited nearby the resident giant tortoise, Turbo, who made slow moving laps around his rock enclosure and nibbled on melon. 

We didn't realize just how much wildlife we'd be able to interact with, and our first encounter was with some fennec foxes named Snicker and Doodle. This was Snicker, the more excitable of the two and who got all of the mealworm treats we had to offer. 

While Doodle relaxed a bit more pensively, or nervously, maybe. 

Next was a showcase of this "little" young Great Horned Owl of the South American variety. 

The wingspan on this chick was already amazing, and they said it would eventually stretch out further than I am tall, over six feet! 

An unexpected fan favorite were these two pacas, Inigo and Wesley (we'd actually just watched The Princess Bride just a couple weeks ago). Your mom had a moment with the bigger one, finding a wonderful spot on its tummy to scratch while it squinted and grunted in scratchy bliss. 

This is Kiki the serval. She was a kitten but already long and lanky. Look at those big back paws! She really enjoyed this house-cat toy but was already outgrowing it.  

And this is Belt the three-toed sloth. What a character. They really do seem to move in slow motion right before your eyes. 

  

And this bizarre creature is a three-banded armadillo. It can completely roll up into a hard coconut or canteloupe shaped ball, quite a bit heavier than you might guess at first. Fittingly, they were named Coconut and Cantaloupe.  

When they got to move around, it felt like watching something alien! They're little tick-tick-tick sound as they scurried around was something else! 

We even got to cuddle with Cuddles, the porcupine. We got to take one of his big quills home as a souvenir, as he loses them all the time the same way most creatures lose hair. 

During a break we got amazingly lucky to learn they were nursing a group of baby otters! Your mom could barely contain herself as they brought them out one by one to have lunch. 

Their universally grumpy little faces were hilarious to behold. Each one bottle fed and burped like babies. 

This is Buckaroo the kangaroo sneaking a kiss! He took quite a bit of time making sure every last bit of ripe banana was off our hands, and now I can add "being licked by a kangaroo" to my list of animal experiences. 

The whole last hour of the adventure was in the pool with this pack of Asian Small-Clawed River Otters, your mom's absolute favorite variety of these creatures. They dumped this bin of toys and these frenetic, goofy otters were immediately all over them! There were five otters altogether, Rocket, Emmett, Hank, Lila, and one we can't remember!  

These guys bounced all over the place! The clever trainers gave us all these cups and tubs to put tiny toys in so the otters would climb all over us getting into them. 

Bottle caps were a favorite but the best were small shiny rocks. They'd go nuts trying to get these things, and if you'd hold onto one just barely showing in your fist, they'd clamor all over trying to pry it loose. Once they got it, they tear off and find some nook or cranny to hide it... and this was often in one of the lady's bathing suits. At one point your mom had five rocks stuffed into her swimsuit! 

  

That's the smile I wanted to capture! 

It was an incredible experience, and we're really fortunate to be able to do it. Tickets have gotten more expensive and they'e booked a year in advance now! 

We stopped at a cool brewery on the way back to the city, so I got to sample a bit more. These sliders were absolutely incredible. The tri-tip was so tender, I could hardly believe it! 

We rested a bit and got ready for an evening on Coronado Island. Your mom snapped this picture of San Diego as we crossed the Coronado Bridge on our way to the beach. 

Your mom looked stunning, that perfect casual ritz that such a beach asked for. 

  

We've seen a lot of sunsets on the Pacific coast, each memorable in their own way. 

We saddled up to a beach-side bar, enjoyed some drinks and a light dinner as the dusk turned to night. We chatted around a fire pit and enjoyed the cool air of the coast. It was magical : ) 

The next morning we tried to enjoy a bit more of the town before having to get back on a plane, so we checked out this excellent French-styled cafe, Cafe Chloe. 

The breakfast was fantastic, making us crave even further adventures in foreign places. 

On the way home we could hardly believe what we'd seen and done, and visions of chatty, snorting, playing otters whirling about filled our heads.