Story by Donald H. Harrison; Photos by Shor M. Masori and Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – San Diego County is the animal capital of the United States, and possibly the world.
I say this without reservation or qualification after a 10-day vacation period during which my son David and grandchildren Brian, 10 and Sara, 7 – often joined by my local grandchildren Shor, 17, and Sky, 11, as well as by other members of our family – enjoyed a visit dedicated to being with and learning about animals at a variety of venues.
Yes, of course, stops on their tour included both the world-famous San Diego Zoo and SeaWorld, but this trip also took us to Starlight Circle in Santee, Legoland in Carlsbad, three different seafood restaurants, the Museum of Man in Balboa Park, the New Children’s Museum downtown, the Oasis Camel Dairy in Ramona, Lake Murray, and other points of interest permeated by a love for animals.
Shor Masori, who is a staff photographer for San Diego Jewish World, and I photographed live animals, or artistic representations of them, wherever Brian and Sara visited during their whirlwind 10 days in our county. Our collaborative photo essay follows, showing just some of the animals seen in the order of our visit.
Point Loma Seafoods, San Diego
Brian and Sara have grown up on seafood, and given that San Diego is famous for its fresh fish, Point Loma Seafoods seemed a natural place for our out-of-town grandchildren to have a late lunch after they arrived with their daddy David on a flight from the San Francisco Bay Area.
Since 1963, when it was opened by Kelly and Marie Christianson, Point Loma Seafoods has been located next to the docks where sports fishing boats bring in their catches. Unsurprisingly, the fish there is varied and fresh. Point Loma Seafoods not only is a fish market, but also has restaurant seating. After inspecting all the fish and shellfish laid out on ice at the market, you place your order, picking it up later when your food is ready. The place is always crowded, but it is worth the wait.
Although I limit myself to fish that have fins and scales, many non-kosher varieties of seafood also are available, making for the market’s formidable display of the bounty from the sea. Outside, along the docks, one may find seagulls, egrets, and pelicans all hoping for a treat.
*
Starlight Circle, Santee
As Jews, we respect and honor the traditions of our Christian neighbors. In particular, we enjoy looking at the Christmas light displays which often feature animals. So, on Christmas Eve, we drove to the city of Santee and took Magnolia Boulevard north to Temel Circle. We turned right and soon espied a happy group of people touring the neighborhood which since the 1980s has been known for individual Christmas displays. Some 15 years ago, the late Mari Harrod suggested the name “Starlight Circle” for the route that will take visitors on a large circle back to North Magnolia Avenue. Along with husband Mike, the Harrods painted the welcome sign for visitors to the area, and constructed a model train that runs along a split rail fence.
Anyone familiar with the story of Santa Claus would not have been surprised to see multiple reindeer displays, but in addition there were storybook representations of real and fictional animals including bears, dinosaurs, dogs, dragons, foxes, penguins, pigs, and tigers.
Legoland, Carlsbad
Built in 1999, Legoland continues to add to its repertoire of adventure rides and Lego-block constructions. If it has been a while since your last visit, no doubt you will find some attractions that weren’t there the last time you came. We were delighted that Legoland remained open on Christmas Day.
Given our focus on animals, it seemed as if we were taking photographs every few steps of both real and imaginary denizens of the animal kingdom. In our digital scrapbook, we now have images of stuffed, plastic and Lego-built animals such as bear, camel, cat, chicken, crocodile, dinosaur, dog, donkey, dragon, elephant, horse, lion, monkey, octopus, panda, sheep, snake, spider, starfish, tortoise, turtle, unicorn, water buffalo, and zebra.
Seaside Buffet, San Diego
In keeping with the American Jewish tradition of eating in a Chinese (or Asian) restaurant on Christmas (when most other restaurants are closed), nine of us went to grandson Sky’s favorite eatery, the Seaside Buffet. This Asian-focused seafood restaurant is not by the water, as you might imagine from its name. In actuality, it is near Marine Corps Air Station Miramar, in one of the fascinating polyglot areas of San Diego. The place mats feature the Chinese Zodiac with pictures of the animals that symbolize each lunar month: pig, rat, oxen, tiger, hare, dragon, snake, horse, ram, monkey, rooster, and dog.
When you enter the restaurant, or certainly before you leave the ample and quite diverse buffet, check out the ceramic maneki-neko, or beckoning cat, widely considered by the Japanese to bring good luck. According to one legend, a man saw a cat raise its paw, and wondering why it did so, the man walked toward the cat. Just then, a bolt of lightning struck the spot where the man previously had been standing. What good luck!
Buddy visits
The visit of “Buddy,” a chihuahua-toy poodle mix owned by daughter Sandi and her sons Shor and Sky, was the highlight of a stay-at-home and rest-up day. As is evident from the accompanying photo, Buddy is an unabashed lapdog.
SeaWorld, San Diego
SeaWorld is both beloved and controversial. After the movie Blackfish was released in 2013, concern for the welfare of penned Orca whales grew, eventually forcing SeaWorld to refrain from obtaining any more of these whales, to build bigger pens for those that are already in captivity, and to change the primary mission of its Orca program from entertainment to education. The adverse publicity caused SeaWorld to lose a lot of money, to experience a drop in attendance, and to do considerable soul-searching.
However, those San Diegans who have watched SeaWorld evolve since its founding here in 1964 know that there is another side of the story because we have witnessed it so many times on television newscasts and in our newspapers. Whenever a marine mammal, or sea bird, becomes ill, lost, or stranded, it is SeaWorld to the rescue. Over the years, SeaWorld has rescued many thousands of animals, providing continuous and loving veterinary care before releasing its animal patients back to the wild.
There still are animal entertainment shows at SeaWorld, just as there are at zoos and animal parks throughout the world. Additionally, there are numerous educational exhibits, teaching about interesting habits of various species, and preaching–yes preaching–animal conservation and protection of the environment.
Museum of Man, Balboa Park, San Diego
An instructive exhibition on the three P’s of humanity’s interactions with animals — Pets, Pests, and on Plates — was well worth mulling, especially after our attendance at SeaWorld and our enjoyment of two seafood restaurants. While not directly addressing issues surrounding seafood, the exhibit shone a light on the cruelty of raising other kinds of animals for human consumption. We saw dairy cattle herded onto huge roundtables to facilitate factory-style milking; we saw a tractor like vehicle sucking up live chickens like so much dust on a rug; and we witnessed a mother pig being confined to a space so tight, she could not even move, as she suckled her young. None of these images enhance appetites.
While the exhibit dished out more guilt than that dispensed by our stereotypical Jewish mothers (Catholic moms, too, I’m told), it also can make visitors smile with an imaginative tale about how dogs first were domesticated: “Seated around a fire on a cold, dark night you hear a soft whine and then a wet nose sniffs your hand, begging for scraps of food. You turn to the wolf pup and decide to throw it a scrap of meat. Over time, wild wolves become domestic dogs….”
The exhibit also instructs that humans are responsible for creating situations that make such animals as cockroaches, rats, and pigeons into pests. Cockroaches cannot thrive in cold weather, so they are attracted to the warm dwellings that we build for ourselves. Cities are perfect for pigeons that have evolved from cliff dwelling species. Buildings with their balconies and many ledges, telephone wires, and, of course, statues of generals all make perfect perches. Rats? They originated on the plains of Asia and hitchhiked their way west, in the saddle packs, suitcases, boxes, and crates that humans brought along on their own migrations.
Elsewhere in Balboa Park
As in almost any public park anywhere in the world, San Diego’s magnificent Balboa Park includes various representations of animals. Most noticeable outdoors are the horse upon which the Spanish hero El Cid (Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar) rode to military victories; a line of reindeer guiding Santa’s sleigh (in a seasonal display); and a banner advertising the Omnimax presentation on Pandas currently playing at the Fleet Science Center. The pond in front of the Botanical Building contains a collection of koi. A lion sits regally outside the United Nations Building.
Various museums, of course, are filled with animal references. The Museum of Natural History, on the other side of a large fountain from the Fleet Science Center, is filled with specimens of flora and fauna from the three Californias — our U.S. state, Baja California, and Baja California Sur of Mexico. An exhibit about beer at the Museum of Man includes several beer bottles with labels picturing animals. Rice candy sold at the Japanese Garden’s tea pavilion pictures a beckoning cat. Art museums in Balboa Park have a variety of paintings that picture animals. And where might you find mustangs, pintos, rams, thunderbirds, and jaguars? At the San Diego Automotive Museum, of course.
If you still yearn for more animals, look around. Balboa Park has a contained area where dogs can run off leash. On leashes, there is a constant parade of dogs of almost every breed.
Oasis Camel Dairy, Ramona
Co-owner Gil Riegler was born in Canada and raised in Israel, where he served in the IDF. His wife, Nancy, used to work as an avian expert at the Wild Animal Park, now known as Safari Park. Together they have created the Oasis Camel Dairy, where 20 camels are the main attractions on a working farm that also features sheep, turkeys, and several varieties of other birds.
The milk from the camels is used to create soap and lotions, which the Rieglers sell at a small gift shop. The federal Food and Drug Administration has not yet approved domestic sale of camel milk products as food or drink for humans, so camel milk chocolate bars, which are on sale, are imports from Abu Dhabi.
Camel rides are one feature of the dairy, although the day that our family visited the platform that riders use to climb aboard the camels was in use at another location, where the camels graced a Christmas manger display. The tour that Riegler gives of the property is worth the visit, as he is quite knowledgeable about camels. It was enjoyable also to feed the camels their favorite “apple-pops,” which are apples served on a stick.
New Children’s Museum, San Diego
Artist Wes Sam-Bruce, a former San Diego County resident who now makes his home in Greeley, Colorado, has created a 36-room treehouse-like environment in which children crawl and climb through soundscapes, see imaginative drawings of animals, and experience a made up language and alphabet that enhance their sensation of adventure in a newly discovered land.
Children never know what might await them in the next room or crawl space in which they are encouraged to find their own way without coaching from adults, although staff members are nearby in case any child might need them.
Elsewhere in the museum, there are opportunities for children to participate in various arts and crafts. Additionally, one never knows what kind of “animal” might be found when eating lunch in the museum’s cafe.
Old Town Trolley’s SEAL (Sea and Land) Tour
On an amphibious vehicle, visitors take a guided tour from Seaport Village along San Diego’s Embarcadero to Shelter Island, where the vehicle drives into the water, becoming a passenger boat. The guided tour continues as the vehicle parallels the north coast of San Diego Bay, while passing various Navy installations.
The highlight of the tour is a visit to the bait docks, where sportsfishing enthusiasts can load up on anchovies and sardines. Sea lions and various waterfowl, including cormorants and seagulls, have made these docks their home, so an excursion past the docks provides an ever changing tableau.
On the way back, one passes a sculpture on Shelter Island, which from my point of view is a very large seagull.
*
At home with Benji
Preparations necessary for New Year’s Eve made December 31st another stay-at-home day. Benji, our family’s schnauzer and lhasa apso mix, provided plenty of entertainment and companionship for Brian and Sara.
San Diego Zoo
We began our New Year right with a visit to the San Diego Zoo, where there are several ways to observe the animals. Walking paths afford opportunities to linger in front of the animal enclosures, ideal for photographers who want to watch for their shots. Bus rides provide a more elevated view of the enclosures, but the bus passes by relatively quickly, so chances for just the right photo are more limited. For an overview of the Zoo, and the surrounding areas of San Diego, the Skyfari is a fun ride that is included in the admission price.
Every camera-toting visitor to the San Diego Zoo comes away with pictures of favorite animals. Here are a half dozen we took on New Year’s Day 2019:
Lake Murray, San Diego
Zoos are spectacular, but they are not as intimate as a neighborhood lake where you can feed the waterfowl and pigeons that have made the area their temporary home. At Lake Murray, in the San Carlos neighborhood of San Diego, Brian and Sara found plenty of ducks anxious to eat some treats on Wednesday afternoon, Jan. 2. Elsewhere in the park, Brian and Sara climbed over an image of a crane to get to the top of a jungle jim.
100’s Seafood Grill Buffet, San Diego
Our family animal trek ended as it began, with a lunch at a seafood restaurant, this one located beneath the tall bridges at the junction of Interstate Highways 8 and 805. A koi pond at the restaurant gave us one more encounter with animals before David, Brian, and Sara departed for their home in Northern California.
When we said our goodbyes, we wondered what theme we might choose the next time Brian and Sara visit San Diego County with their father. There are many possibilities to choose from. Then again, we just might stay with the animal theme because in San Diego County, there always are many more animals to see.
*
Harrison is editor and Masori is a staff photographer for San Diego Jewish World. They may be reached respectively at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com and shor.masori@sdjewishworld.com