Life with Dylan

Category: exploring

  • Exploring the Environmental Nature Center

    Sometimes adventure can be in your own backyard, or in this case your neighborhood, and you didn’t even know it. Getting outside is easier than you think – you just need to know where to look.

    One of the things on our summer to-do list was visiting the Environmental Nature Center (ENC). We are lucky enough to live about 10 minutes from the ENC and always have fun exploring the grounds.

    The ENC covers a little over five acres and has a combination of 15 native California plant communities, wildlife habitats, and walking trails. You can easily spend 2-3 hours exploring the trails. From the desert to the redwoods to the marsh, you never know what you will find.

    As beautiful as everything is, don’t get so lost in the trees that you forget to take a closer look. We found this little guy soaking up the sunshine near the meadow. Yes, the ENC even has a meadow!

    In my opinion, the ENC is like a sanctuary – it is the perfect escape from the daily grind when you need a good dose of nature.

    Dylan and I spent most of the afternoon walking the trails and exploring. Since he has attended nature camp here for several years, he knows the area well. He enjoys being the guide and letting me know where the spiders nest, where the wasps are, and of course where the poison oak is along the path. Armed with sunscreen, walking shoes and my camera, I was more than happy to follow Dylan’s lead.

    The ENC is more than just walking trails – It is a world filled with the simple beauty of flora.

    Oh, and while your walking, don’t forget to look up. 
    The ENC is home to lots of little critters too!

    For more information on the ENC, visit www.encenter.org and to see more of our adventures, you can view our Exploring the ENC album on Flickr.

  • A day of exploring the San Diego Zoo Safari Park

    Over the weekend Dylan and I went to the San Diego Zoo Safari Park for a little adventure of our own. No meet-ups with other photographers, no special event, just a day to explore and have fun. This past weekend was quite warm, but we have been missing our animal friends at the Safari Park so we prepared ourselves for the heat and ventured out to Escondido.

    Of course our first stop is always the rhino statue with an obligatory photo. It’s kind of a tradition now.

    Nairobi Station is always fun to visit and even more so when the kids from Conservation Corps are there teaching kids about endangered animals. Whether it’s touching an ivory elephant tusk, seeing a giraffe vertebrae, or sizing up your hand to a gorillas hand … there is always something new to learn.

    Next stop, more adventure … and it looks like Dylan has the right of way!

    We had so much fun exploring and seeing our friends. We saw Wally the blue-tongued skink with her keeper and and Izu or favorite lion relaxing in the shade. We took a tram ride through Asia and Africa and saw Nola the Northern White rhino standing in the water. This pretty much made our day and I would have been fine going home. Any day seeing Nola is a great day!

    Luckily we continued our adventure and got to spend some time with the gorillas while they were having lunch. Winston is such a character, Frank and Monroe had us laughing, and Imani has got to be the cutest pregnant gorilla ever. The keeper said she’s due any day now!

    Tiger exhibit is completely closed off now because of the final stages for Tiger Trail … we have really missed seeing the tigers at the Safari Park, but know they are going to love their new home. Just a few more months and Tiger Trail will be open. An adventure without cats isn’t very fun, especially when you are a big cat lover like we are. Thankfully Ken and Dixie were out to share their cuteness with the world. I can’t believe how big they have gotten. (Pictures coming soon)

    So much to see and so much to explore.

    A day at the San Diego Zoo Safari Park is always an adventure! 

  • The day we explored Home Depot

    I am now convinced that Home Depot is the guys equivalent to Target for girls. He wanted to walk up and down every aisle at Home Depot just to see what they had. No intention of buying anything – just wandering. Exploring the power tools, hammers, rugs, plants, paint … nothing was left unseen. It was a wonderful way to spend an hour with my son.

    How do you spend time with your child?