SUNNY SAN DIEGO!

Jules’ Journal: La Jolla, Cabrillo, New Friends & the Zoo

By: Julianne Lillie

3/5/23 - Children’s Pool Beach & Cabrillo National Monument:

We left the camper by 9:00am and listened to Cedarpoint Church online on our way to La Jolla’s Children’s Pool Beach to see the Harbor seals! It was pupping season so we saw lots of Mamas & babies sunning, nursing, & swimming.

It was amazing…I could’ve stayed all day long watching them. They were so cute!

We then headed to Cabrillo National Monument at Point Loma where we started off by stamping our passports and kids working on their Jr Ranger booklets.

You can see San Diego's skyline behind us from Point Loma!

The kids earned their 86th Jr Ranger badge!

On our way to the truck to grab our picnic, Jason, wearing his OU sweatshirt, saw another guy wearing an OU shirt. They both yelled “Boomer!” at each other and then we got to visiting with them. Their family of 5 is from Muskogee on a 3-week RV trip. Pretty cool!

After we finished our picnic we checked out the Monument statue of Juan Rodriguez Castillo ( a Portuguese explorer)...

...and the Point Loma Lighthouse (first lighthouse of San Diego!).

3rd order Fresnel lens:

By this time it was about 1:00pm (1.5 hours before low tide) so we headed down to the “tide pools.” This was an area that the National Monument protects and manages and is probably the draw to visit this monument. This are has a rocky cliff side coast line that resembles Swiss cheese. And when the tide is low, it leaves these pockets of water called tide pools full of crabs, snails, fish, & other critters for us to walk around and see.

We ended up scrambling & bouldering all over this area for a good 2 hours.

We saw numerous hermit crabs, striped shore crabs, 2 sea cucumbers, 2 starfish, a few anemones, and 1 school of striped fish.

Mussels:

Shore Crabs:

Anemone with hermit crabs (the shells) all around:

We all had a blast! And I’m happy to report that Jason and I ended the day with dry shoes! Can’t say the same for the kids, though! (I still ended up washing all of our shoes, though, because the fishy/sea smell was strong!)

We ended up running into the Okies from Muskogee again at the tide pools and learned that they were staying in our same KOA San Diego campground. They invited us over for S’more’s later on and the kids were really looking forward to that… especially since they had an almost 13-year-old daughter and a 9-year-old son to play with!

After dinner we headed over to their campsite and ended up visiting with them for 3 hours around the campfire! Turns out their son and Jett share the same birthday!!! And they also both love all the boy toys like Bakugans & Beyblades, so they really hit it off! Their oldest daughter and Jaycie also hit it off as they bonded over American Girl dolls, Barbies, sewing, dance, & art! They also have a 5-year-old daughter who kept us all entertained as well! We also learned that the parents happen to know some of our friends from church as they grew up with them. What a super small world! We thoroughly enjoyed sharing trip plans and RV stories. The kids had way too many s’mores… I think we all lost count! We got to bed pretty late, but the kids had some much needed play/friend time. You never really know how small the world is until something like this happens. It was a great day and I'm so glad our paths crossed! God is so good!

3/6/23 – San Diego Zoo:

We arrived at the zoo at 9:00am & explored the reptile exhibits until we had to report for duty on our “Inside Look Tour.” We got VIP stickers & there were 6 of us total on a golf cart with our tour guide, Sierra. It’s a 90-minute tour that gives you access to some behind-the-scenes knowledge & views into the animals here. We started off by getting to feed the giraffes which was a little disappointing. We had a few “drive by” encounters, but no takers since their keepers were preparing a yummy snack for them on the other side of their enclosure. They were all preoccupied with that. So, unfortunately, that wasn’t the best timing. We did get some up-close time with one Giraffe!

We then got to walk through the animal keepers trails within the Male Koala enclosures. Each male is in his separate enclosure and we got to see some up close that were sleeping.

When we visited the female koala enclosure there was a little more action as several were eating Eucalyptus. We got to also see the 3 new little cubs which were precious!

We then caught a glimpse of the Grizzlies in their den and saw a rare sighting this time of year. They actually stirred for us which I caught on video. It looked like they were wrestling!

This next part was my favorite! We got to see a Brother/Sister lion duo affectionately interact with each other which our guide also said was pretty rare. She said they usually “razzed” each other like siblings do! So, it was cute to see them loving like that!

The elephants were cool! We went behind their enclosure & learned about their teeth & tusks.

We also got to see one of their huge skulls!

Next were the California Condors which we had already learned in Arizona that they were critically endangered. In the late 80’s they had been reintroduced into the wild and their population is starting to increase. We got to see one of them display their wings for us which was pretty neat! Their wingspan can get up to 10 feet!

After our tour concluded, we shopped for souvenirs and ate our picnic lunch in the truck. Jaycie used her clothing allowance money to get this adorable Butterfly shirt & Reversible hat!

We then headed back in for more exploration on our own! We started off by watching an animal encounter with a two-toed sloth. She was really fun to watch!

Jaycie loved all the birds, flowers, & pretty plants!

Cherry blossom tree in bloom!

We all agreed that the “Most Annoying Bird” award went to this little guy. Which Jaycie later turned into her text ringtone on her phone… just so the annoyance could continue long after! (Yay... luck us!)

And I must say that the plants and landscaping all throughout the zoo is absolutely spectacular! There was even 1 prehistoric plant our tour guide pointed out to us. See below:

The landscaping & plant’s beauty just enhanced the overall zoo experience in my opinion! I snapped so many photos of the different plants throughout!

Jett’s favorite part were the snakes! Got a good look at some really pretty, colorful ones!

But the “Most Interesting” award goes to these Peruvian Jumping Stick insects! So weird!!!!

We also got a show from the Gorillas! Look at how big this hand/foot is!?? OMG!

Since this Zoo is so expansive (& hilly), it was nice to be able to ride the gondola & save a few steps!

We also got a bird's eye view of the zoo!

We ended up leaving around 3:30pm and headed out for an early dinner at this nice Farm-to-Table restaurant close to our campground, “Farmer’s Table.” It was delicious! A nice finish to our super fun-filled day!n Until next time… You stay classy San Diego!

Jaycie’s Bunny Hoppin’ News: Joshua Tree National Park

By: Jaycie Lillie, 3/7/23

Joshua Tree National Park is all about the Joshua Trees. They were named by Mormons in the late 1800s after Joshua because their arms were outstretched and looked as if they were worshipping. Joshua trees don’t only live in Joshua Tree National Park, but they are confined to this high elevation desert area. And they are only pollinated by the Yucca Moth! Some believe they aren’t a tree, but scientists are working on it. Wait...Joshua Trees aren’t even trees at all!? Some believe they are a type of Yucca plant. They look tree-ish on the outside, but when you cut a cross section of their “trunk” they don’t have tree rings. Instead, it is sponge-like similar to a palm tree.

We stayed to watch the sunset. Joshua Tree National Park is known for their sunsets! I brought my Sony camera. I personally thought the sunsets in Oklahoma have more colors like the pinks & oranges, but this was a pretty sunset, too. Here are some of my photos.

Early sunset:

Later Sunset:

The full oon as we were leaving:

Thanks for reading!

Jett’s Wild Flight: LEGOLAND CALIFORNIA!

By: Jett Lillie, 3/8/23

Legoland California was AWSESOME! Even the entrance was “sick!” It was just daddy and I today on this adventure and we started off by preparing for a coaster.

The first one we went on was the Technic Coaster and it was just okay. The ride was short and, no loopty-loops (which I like) and it didn’t go that fast. But I suppose these are for kids unlike the daredevil that I am! The rest of the coasters were similar.

We also rode on a yellow submarine and saw sharks and underwater Lego treasure!

We saw Washington DC’s National Mall, Mount Rushmore, Las Vegas Strip, and New York all made out of Legos. Even a Ferrari with lights! It was really unreal!

My favorite part was the building! We built and raced cars! We also built a Rover shuttles, too!

We got to program (write code) a Lego EV3 Robot and completed all 4 of the tasks! (We were the only group to do that!)

We ate lunch and built boats and our names.

We also did Lego dots and created things out of tiny single pieces. At Legoland we did some more rides and a little cruise looking out for Lego animals. I also got a pop badge and traded 2 Lego figures. It was so FUN!

I LOVE LEGOLAND!