My dad started driving to our next destination, Casa Dia Via Mar Inn at Escondido, CA. On the way we stopped at LA, to eat dinner. For dinner we all ate Falafel and french fries . After a few minutes, we were back on the highway. The highway that we took was next to the ocean.  I couldn’t see anything in the water because it was very dark outside. So I just had to wait for the drive to end. After what seemed like forever we finally reached the inn at 10:00 PM. When I stepped in the Inn, it just looked like a normal Inn, but when I started to search around we found out that it actually had a balcony. Plus, the balcony was next to a railway track! First I checked the TV and what channels it had. When it was 11:00 I felt a little bit sleepy. So I shut down the TV and went to bed. I thought that I would hear a train, but luckily I didn’t.

The next morning all of us got up and started to head toward the breakfast room. We all had to search a lot to find the breakfast room. Finally we found the room and started to eat. I ate bread with butter and jam while watching what was happening on the news. After a few minutes everybody was done so we started to head back to the car. After My dad gave the owners the key we drove to the San diego Safari Park Zoo.

After 10 minutes we reached the zoo. When we walked past the front gate we saw a Blue Macaw. After that we had to decide what to do next. My dad suggested that we take the African tram first. My mom and I agreed with him. On the way to the entrance of the tram I saw two lions. They were a little hard to see since they were far away from where we were standing. At the entrance for the tram there was a lot of people waiting. When it was finally our turn to board we walked over and sat at the very front of the tram.

After the Tram started to move I got to see Giraffes and many Pink Flamingos. As we saw these kind of animals the driver was explaining details about them. Then we saw some Rhinos and a small baby Rhino. A few seconds later there was Bulls. The driver explained that you wouldn’t want to go near these Bulls. After that there was Zebras drinking water at a pond. Different kinds of Deer came after that. One of them had horns on the top of their head and others were like A Bison. When we were approaching the end there was a Horned Deer close to the Tram. When the driver told us to get of, I saw the two Lions and this time they were much closer.

 

We decided to go on to the African loop trail. The first thing we saw on the trail were ducks and swans swimming in the water. Then all of us saw that there were two Lemurs and one pile of food. The first one went and started eating the food, the other one just stood still. After a few minutes there were a lot of Flamingos standing on 1 leg. Some of them buried their head in to their bodies. Then birds suddenly flew overhead. The whole park felt like an actual jungle. Then we kept walking until we reached the Tiger trail.

On the Tiger trail there were Bamboo trees everywhere. When we reached the midway point of the trail I saw a tiger. It had black, white and orange stripes. As we went on more Tigers appeared. Finally at the end of the trail all of us took a break and started eating oranges. After that we started to walk on the walkabout Australia trail. When we started the trail there was a small garden that had many kinds of Herbs. On the trail we got to see small trees that were actually very old!! There was even a small jungle of trees. After we enjoyed that we walked toward the Platypus.

There was a huge line of people waiting for the Platypus. Since the Platypus only lived in Australia and in the zoo we decided to wait in the line. After a hour we reached the entrance. Then I could see it. You could barely see it because it was zipping across the water every second. It was fun to watch. My mom was very hungry, so we all decided that we should eat lunch. Before that My dad went in to some door that led to the Kangaroo trail. My mom thought my dad did it on purpose. Then I got to see the Kangaroos. They kept on hopping with their back feet while the front feet were in the front of their body. I also got to see a baby one that started hopping too. After completing the Kangaroo we started to walk toward the place we ate.

After a while we reached Thorntree Terrace. After we ordered our food we waited at a open table close to the restaurant. When the buzzer sounded My mom went and brought the food back to us. Before I started to eat the african Lemurs were very close to us.

About 30 minutes later we were walking to the place where the Cheetah was going to run 60-70 mph. I was very excited to take a video of it running. When we reached the excitement didn’t last long because there was about 1000 people crowding around the field. When the cheetah started to run I luckily got a small video of it running. It was super fast. Then they released a dog to run . The dog wasn’t quite as fast as the Cheetah, but it was still very fast. After a few more round of the Dog and cheetah running the Cheetah run was over.

 

 

When the crowd cleared we started to walk toward the Gorilla trail. On the way to the trail there was exhibit which was called the Lemur walk. All of us agreed to do it because you get to see Lemurs in the open. After sometime we were inside. One of the Lemurs went to the very top of a pole. The others were just jumping from pole to pole. After a few minutes All of us exited the Lemur walk and merged on to the Gorilla trail. At the halfway point of the trail I saw a big Gorilla inside a cave. There were also 2 Gorillas that were hiding behind the rock. I wanted the one inside to cave to come outside because it was the biggest Gorilla in the exhibit. After taking a few pictures of the Gorillas and the Big Gorilla, we continued on Gorilla trail and started to head for the entrance of the zoo.

At the entrance there was a souvenir making machine. I made a souvenir of a baby Elephant and a big Elephant. After exiting the zoo My dad went in the car and started to drive toward Quality inn which was in Oxnard CA. Since we were taking the same Highway we took before I still couldn’t see anything because it was night. On the way we had to eat dinner, right?, so I asked my parents what should we eat. The replied with the answer “Pizza”, so I looked for pizza places on the map. After a few minutes I found this Pizza place which was called Blaze pizza. My Dad drove to the Pizza place.

The pizza place was one of those places where you could make your own Pizza. Since we were only going to order one pizza I got to keep most of the toppings. After we ordered we waited for the pizza to come. When it came My mom brought it to our table. All of us had to eat quickly, so we could reach the Hotel in time. After quickly eating we were back in the car ready to go back on the freeway. After 2 hours we finally reached Quality Inn. Inside the Hotel it was just like a normal Hotel. I wanted to watch some TV before going to bed, but My mom forced me to go to bed since it was about 10:oo in the night. I brushed my teeth and finally went to bed.

The next morning I got up and ate Cornflakes, yogurt and bread. After everyone finished breakfast My dad started to drive back home. In a few minutes My dad stopped at Safeway to get Ice cream. I ate Mint Chocolate chip Ice Cream. After both of us finished eating we were back on the road. At 12:00 My mom stopped to eat lunch. My dad and I didn’t eat because we were full. When she was done the trip continued. Since we had to stop for lunch too my dad stopped at Panera bread. I ate plain bread with Tomato soup. In a few minutes all of us were back in the car.

1 hour later… we were home. I went to my bed and found out that I got a Present from Santa. It was a Camp Nou 3d puzzle!!!

The End

On Christmas day in the morning My family and I traveled to Ventura Harbor to go to Channel Island National Park. The main point of the trip was going to see Dolphins and Whales. We left early in the morning so we can reach the hotel early. The ride to the hotel, Shores Inn took about 5 hours. In about 2 hours 30 minutes, we stopped in grocery store. At the store my dad bought Marble Bread, Normal Bread, Strawberry Jam, Gouda cheese and Spicy Hummus. A few minutes later, we were back on the road.  We reached at 4 pm. At the inn I was just testing out the TV and what channels it had. After sometime there was this Basketball game that I wanted to see. It was Between the Los Angeles Clippers 21-10 @ Los Angeles Lakers 24-6. Just then My dad suggested that we should walk for sometime.

Our first stop was Lucky Thai restaurant that we were going to eat dinner in. The walk continued until we reached the beach that was nearby. On the beach, I got to stand on some big rocks. When I was standing on those rocks I could see boats in the deep waters.

Around the small city we saw Christmas lights hanging from almost every house. Since there was nobody my mom suggested that My dad should drive to the main town so we can at least see more people. Everyone agreed with that. At the town there was surely more people then in where the hotel was. The only problem was that the crowd was only at popular restaurants. After a few minutes we decided to go back toward the Thai restaurant and eat dinner. At the place I ate some noodles with vegetable. When we finished eating, we saw that it was pouring heavily outside. We didn’t even have an umbrella with us! I charged to the rain just like a bull ramming in to a brick wall. Finally when everyone was safely inside I started to watch the Basketball game. It was very competitive both teams were trying to win. The final score was Los Angeles Clippers 22-10 111 Los Angeles Lakers 24-7 106. I started watching another game for sometime until my parent told me that I had to go to sleep. I turned of the TV and went to bed.

The next morning all three of us got out of bed early. Since the breakfast only opened at 7:30 I decided to watch a Premier League game on TV until I had to go for breakfast. A few minutes later my dad went and checked what was there in the breakfast room. He told us that since there was only Waffles in the room my mom had to eat bread. My mom told me that “I should finish quickly”. I asked her “Why are we leaving at 8:30 when our ferry ride is only at 10:00″. We are going to try taking the 9:00 ferry so we have more time on the island” She replied. Directly after finishing our breakfast we went in the car and my dad started to drive to Ventura Harbor. The harbor was freezing cold. All of us ran into the warmth of the visitor center. At the visitor center my dad got tickets for the 9:00 boat. When the boat started to sail toward the pacific ocean the speed was slow. After it exited the beach it became very rocky and fast. First I was scared because the boat kept lurching up and then suddenly when you least expect it goes down. After a few wild waves I got used to it. The Common Dolphins only appeared when we were nearly at Scorpion Cove. We thought that they had to race the boat. The actual reason is that they had to follow us because  the waves created by the boat were going toward the boat.

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At Scorpion Cove the boat guys way of boarding the island was terrible. It took forever to take people on the island. Every once in a while the boat would drift away and then the captain had to make it go back to the ladder. Finally all of us made it to Scorpion Cove. We decided to do the easy hike because the boat that went back to Ventura departs at 3:00. My dad found a hike which was called the Cavern Point hike which is 2 miles long. The trail was just like any old trail I have been to. In sometime there was a sign. My parents both agreed that we can walk halfway through the Potato head trail and then come back to this point and finish the Cavern Point loop trail hike. The hike kept on going up. We had to move slowly because the trail path was very narrow. Suddenly My dad spotted a baby fox not to far from where we were standing. As I neared closer it ran away.   The trail seemed to take forever and we had to stop to eat lunch at some point. All of us couldn’t spot a place to eat, but I spotted tiny paw prints on the trail. I thought that it must be the fox. Since we didn’t find a place we turned around and started hiking back toward Cavern point loop trail. In the same place we saw the fox again, but this time there was 2 foxes. Then they ran away. When we were finally back a sign that we faced earlier we started eating.     I ate bread with avocado and Hummus. While I was eating there was a crow nearby that clearly wanted the food. It kept on cawing on and on again. I couldn’t eat quickly because the crow was so annoying. My dad called it the annoying crow. Finally when we finished eating the crow flew somewhere else. Then the hike began finish again to finish the Cavern point loop trail. After a while all of us reached Cavern point. The view was spectacular. We tried to search for more sea animals, but since all of us were in a very high altitude I didn’t see anything. After taking a few pictures the trail continued. When we were close to the end of the trail we saw people kayaking in to painted caves. At the end of the trail all of us waited on the bench until we all had to go to the boat. At 3:00 we were at the boarding place ready to get on the the boat. The boarding took forever. Finally the boat roared out on to the open seas. Since I wasn’t scared anymore I was on the front on the boat. Most of the journey everyone didn’t see anything. Until finally more Common Dolphins when we were very close to our destination. After a few more minutes all the Dolphins were simply just gliding on the back of the boat with the waves. Almost all the way to Ventura they were directly behind the boat. When we were at Ventura they disappeared. I wanted to see Whales and Dolphins. I only got to see dolphins. Next time I hope hat I get to see blue Whales. Part 2 coming soon!