About a year ago Lee became absolutely obsessed with Red Pandas. I think it started with You Tube videos, but whatever the reason he talks about Red Pandas all the time and is constantly sending me videos of them.
Not our photo, but a pretty good representation of how adorable they are. When they feel afraid or threatened, they stand up and put their paws up high to try to be larger, and intimidating and scary. They’re not.
So because I try to be a good wife I started looking for a zoo where we could see one in person and it turned out the Santa Barbara Zoo has one. We had also heard about this zoo from our friend Georgia so it was on our list and once the 100 degree weather broke we headed out to see the zoo.
I really wanted to get there right when they opened on Sunday and I am so glad we did. Not only were all of the animals very activem, but we also got to see quite a lot of them being fed which led to increased enjoyment. It’s a smaller zoo but absolutely beautiful and they had their Halloween displays up which was an extra treat.
Our first stop was the Red Panda and wow was that great. It was being fed and was super active and man are they super cute. I think Lee could have stayed there all day but eventually I got him to move on.
They really make the most of the space that they have and the zoo has a large events field and even a daycare on the premises which is pretty neat. The signage is good as well with lots of interesting kid friendly facts.
The daycare / camp area is fenced inDon’t worry there was glass here. IT was really clean which was nice
Lee’s second favorite stop was the gorillas. He spent a ton of time there but as the sign above says it was a little smelly and I wandered off to look at the California condors. This was the closest I have seen them and their sheer size is really impressive. I couldn’t get any good pictures of them but I watched them for a long time.
Had to do it !!
The two disappointing areas were the poor lions who had a relatively small space and the Australian walkabout. It’s a neat idea getting to walk inside the kangaroo pen but they just laid there and it was pretty boring.
I did like how close we could get
The giraffe area was VERY nice and they even had a feeding opportunity for kids for an additional cost.
Feeding platform
There were lots of really good small areas, like the turtles and the penguins, It only takes a couple of hours to go through the park but it was fun because we got to see so many animals eating.
My absolute favorite though was the otters. They had a large play area with a platform that was high on one side and then a glassed in swimming area. I stayed there for a long time because they were so fun to watch.
Seriously how stinking cute
We made a stop at the gift store (buying some Red Panda tote bags of course) and then headed home. It was a lovely drive and a great walk and I am really glad we came. Can’t stress enough though it’s worth getting there right when they open because that really added to the fun.
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes
When we first moved into this RV park we discovered that we were allowed to have small pet fencing and “some” plants. This was a first for us in over 10 years of traveling, and we definitely wanted to take advantage of the opportunity to give Jack a fenced in area so he could lay outside and watch the world go by. I also really wanted to have a few plants, if for nothing else than to block the large pipes next to our site, so before I left I found some pots on clearance and was excited about filling them up when I came back.
For those of you who know Lee what happened next will come as no surprise, but even after 35 years of marriage I have to say his commitment to doing something that really matters to him surprises even me. When I came back he had a beautiful little white picket fence constructed, with a front and back gate, all set up, and a handful of maybe 6 or 8 plants. That same weekend we went to a wonderful small nursery I had found, and bought a few shrubs and trees and plants.
This is what I saw when I came home!We added these Silver Sheen, they work great to help block the pipe, grow well in pots, and are pretty in the sunlight. When they sway in the breeze the sunlight makes the leaves look silver, they’re beautiful. The pots were a lucky find at Home Goods for only $15 end of season clearance. They’re HUGE. And we added some flowers
My other three plants were all flowering and we got hummingbirds and bees right away. The roses in particular were absolutely beautiful and will bloom here all year. When I saw my first hummingbird I bought one feeder and we got so many hummingbirds Lee bought 4 more. At times we have as many as 30 hummingbirds snacking in our yard and Jack really likes watching them through Lee’s desk window.
So in no time we had flowers, and plants, and hummingbirds. We even had a tomato plant, cilantro, green onions, and strawberries. For me it was perfect. But Lee, well Lee had other ideas 🙂
I should say at this point that Lee’s Mom and Dad have a gorgeous garden. And when I say gorgeous I mean they were on the front page of the Columbus Dispatch newspaper gorgeous. I recommend taking a moment here and clicking this link to a previous blog post about their garden. You truly have to see it to believe it. I mention that because when Lee decided he wanted to try and put a little water feature into our little space it’s not as crazy as it might initially sound. I will say though I was pretty dubious for a variety of reasons, but I should have known that when Lee wants something he generally makes it happen. He spent the next month scouring Facebook marketplace and little by little he created his pond.
Because we obviously can’t dig here and the center is twice as deep as the shelf edge, he used some wood to support the edge so it wouldn’t droop when it was full of water, and it worked perfecetly. The actual pond, pump, filter and waterfall spillway he bought used on FB marketplace from a bunch of different people, and a ton of work went into positioning it and raising and lowering the spillway until he got the perfect sound. Then we went to a specialty pond store and bought a few pond plants. The most expensive was the lily at $50 (ouch) but we only need one and it is really pretty.
Next he bought some stone pavers and then flowering plants to put all around the pond. Along the way he asked my opinion about colors and types of plants, which I appreciated but largely I stood back and tried not to get in his way lol.
I had the idea to put a couple of long hanging plants on hooks right behind the fountain to sort of frame the water fall with greenery and give it a background, and I bought the frog at a swap meet and added the spiky plant so he would look cool, and Lee just popped him into the spillway where he stands guard over the pond.
I was a bit worried that we were overdoing it and someone would say something, because some people are like that, but so far the responses from neighbors have been very positive, and the kids in the park are really fascinated. One older gentleman even stopped and told me we were the pretties site in the park, which was nice to hear. Beauty is contagious, too. Our neighbor added a bunch more plants, and some outdoor string lights, and a couple of hummingbird feeders, which was fine by me because they are greedy little buggers, and now we’re going through a lot less sugar. 🙂
Lee talking to some kids in the neighborhood. He added three of four different types of fish and somehow we even got a visiting frog, so there is lots to look at.
Since Lee likes sitting outside so much he also added some RGB LED pond lighting, a long string patio lights, and a few dozen flicker flame tiki lights hidden all over. I really like how the lights make the garden look at night. It really is beautiful, and since it’s temperate here year round we are really hoping we will be able to enjoy it in the winter months.
Knowing Lee this will be a work in progress as long as we live here, but I wanted to catch you up. Yes, we know that if we move ALL of it will have to go, but building something with that in mind is kind of freeing. I am sure there are lots of people here in the park who would be happy to buy or take various pieces of what we have done and in any event we have no plans on moving in the near future so why not enjoy it while we can? Our quality of life went up exponentially when we moved here from the previous park in the valley, and now it has shot up again, which is nice.
We very much appreciate your support of our blog.
You can purchase the ebook telling the story of how we became full-time RVers.
You can purchase our recipe book filled with 80 recipes we have cooked in our RV and taste tested by Lee himself. You can purchase the kindle or paperbackversion on Amazonor buy the Apple version on Itunes
Camper Chronicles 