California: San Diego

For the last portion of our trip, we stayed with Marc's cousin in San Clemente. Such a nice area, and great to visit them. And they were so close to San Diego, we had to take a trip to visit :)

It's been a crazy month, and we had a great time seeing everyone. And now we are very ready to head back home and crash!

California! Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz was beautiful, we had a great time! The city is a blast from the past, with a 70's hippie vibe. Marc had fun playing on the pier carnival, and I had a fantastic time seeing the california sea lions and harbor seals. A visit to Long Marine lab was also astounding, they have done amazing work with their animals.

Monterey

We have finally made it to California!!! So excited to be here. Just got in yesterday, and met with Marc's aunt and uncle for lunch, and then spent the afternoon in Monterey. The aquarium is great; I was super excited to see the otters (both wild and at the aquarium). And since they are on the coast, we also saw wild sea lions and harbor seals :) You can see the last photo; the aquarium is right on the water, and even have a tidepool theatre where you can go out and see what naturally washes in. The aquarium was really awesome for their jellies, they have massive exhibits! The octopus, squid, and cuttlefish were also super cool. And they had a little loggerhead turtle who kept playing with his reflection, very cute! A great start to our trip here :)

Des Moines fun :)

Our trip in the US is going so quickly! Had a fantastic visit back home in colorado, and a sunny visit in Florida. And while Marc finishes up at a zoo conference in Florida, I am back in Iowa/Illinois :) First stop was Des Moines, where I visited the Blank Park Zoo (really really nice little zoo). Had never seen how ugly/cute baby flamingos were before!!! Also visited the Great Ape Trust / Iowa Primate Learning Sanctuary. The group has had trouble in the past, but has a fantastic new group of staff, volunteers and board of directors and seems to be a top notch facility now. I have never seen a nicer facility for primates, I was so impressed! I would be very lucky to get to work with them in the future.