The Living Desert and Glow in the Park

This weekend was pretty cool. On Saturday, Mitchell had another improv show in the evening, so we went for a little hike in the park by our apartment to try out his new hiking shoes, and then we went for lunch in the little town area. I got a salad and Mitchell got an enormous sandwich!

Andrea &co then picked me up to take me to the show (Mitchell was driving separately as he was meeting his team) and we went for dinner. We went to a plaza in Irvine which was entirely Asian food! It was very busy, but we went to a curry restaurant, I had mushroom curry, and then we got some milk tea. 

Mitchell's show went well, it was his last one of the season and it was a pretty good one to end on. He had a good time improvising with the group, but he still doesn't like driving, so he's taking a little break from it for a bit while he decides if the driving every week is worth it. 

Sunday was the pretty cool day. We had a lazy morning as we'd gotten in late the night before, but set off about noon, into the desert. We were going to visit the Living Desert Zoo and Gardens. And I know, we already have season tickets to another zoo, but there was a reason for this visit. 

One of the first things we did when we arrived, was to hand feed a giraffe! Her tongue was very long and curly, and she really loved lettuce! It was so much fun to watch her roll it into her mouth and get slightly slobbered on in the process. 

We saw some other pretty cool animals there, they had split it into different desert regions, so in Africa we saw the giraffes and then some camels and hyenas, then Australia, and then a big section for North America, with Mexican wolves, coyotes, bobcats and prairie dogs.  We were very lucky that we got to see all of the animals, and lots were walking around because the zoo was so quiet that day. 

We took a little break in some rocking chairs by a pond

We made our way around the loop in about four hours, having seen everything and stopped for ice-cream along the way. We left the zoo and drove into the town of Palm Desert for some dinner. It's quite a fancy area, with lots of golf courses and country clubs, but we found a nice restaurant that wasn't too fancy. Once we had eaten, we headed back to the zoo.

We arrived a little early, but we waited in the car park while they opened up the gates again. This was now their special nighttime event, Glow in the Park. While we waited for the sun to set, we walked around the bit of the zoo which was still open and saw some of the animals be a bit more active now that it was cooler. The wild dogs in particular were now up and playing with each other. 

Once the sun started to go down, the park really lit up! When we walked around in the day time, we'd seen lots of sculptures, but hadn't paid too much attention because there were animals to see! But now that it was dark and they were all lit up and so pretty!

Some of them were moving, and there was music playing from a central speaker, making it feel like a festival! There were so many, and some of the displays were really big, they were all life size, except the bugs which were even bigger! It was a lot of fun to see and I got some really good pictures. 

We left about 8:30 and were home in time for bed (like everywhere, it took us just over an hour to get there). 

Lots of love

Emily and Mitchell

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