Into the Wilderness

Hanaa is obsessed with animals. So, in order to appease her, we went to the San Diego Safari Park so Hanaa could feed giraffes. I still don't really understand why California was the place Hanaa had to go on a safari jaunt in. While she and Dad spent 3 hours feeding giraffes and rhinos, Mom, Zaynee,  and I had to look at the animals in the exhibits. One of my scary moments: a zoo keeper came up to me and shoved a blue-tongued lizard in my face without warning when I was wandering around the animal exhibits. The woman received an incredibly dirty look from me as my heart plummeted and I sprinted away from her. I suppose it wasn't really her fault, she just startled me. How was she to know that I wasn't really an animal-lover?

Hanaa posing with the giraffe.

Dad feeding the giraffe

Once Hanaa and Dad finished their safari excursion, Zaynee and I were ready to leave the park. We had seen the amphibian, reptile, gorilla, bird, lion, and tiger exhibits, as well as going on a tram ride around the African safari park that Hanaa and Dad were feeding animals in. On the ride, Mom, Zaynee, and I saw giraffes, rhinos, zebras, gazelle, antelope, and many other animals. It was way better just sitting in a tram and driving past the animals than having to go up to them and look at them. Hanaa was not ready to leave when we all met up again. We hung around another two hours in the cold weather while she went around to all the exhibits. It wasn't a big park, so the only new thing we say was the Cheetah Run, where we saw a cheetah run 100 meters in 5 seconds. 

African Safari where we rode the tram

By the time we left the safari park, it was almost 5pm. I was a little disappointed because I was told we were going to go to downtown San Diego at 1:30pm, and that never happened. Now that was an adventure for tomorrow. As we headed back to our resort, Mom and Dad spotted a movie theater and we quickly pulled in to see if we could catch a showing of "Les Miserables" since we weren't able to last time we tried. A 7pm showing gave us time to grab a bite to eat at a nearby Thai restaurant. The food wasn't bad, but the service was, and we got out of there as quickly as possible.

"Les Miserables" was a pretty good movie, though not up to par with the rave reviews some of my friends gave me. Maybe it was just because I've seen the musical twice, the old movie once, been in the show twice, and done musical selections numerous times that it was just repetitive for me. However, Zaynee, Hanaa, and I could pick out every lyric that was changed from the stage adaption, engaging our interest when Anne Hathaway, Helena Bonham Carter, and Sacha Baron Cohen disappeared from the screen. All in all, it was a good movie, just not one I would see again too soon.

Les Miserables Poster of Anne Hathaway as Fantine