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We decided to take an extended long weekend vacation to San Francisco and area. We had a decent flight departure time of 940 but fog delays in SFO meant we didn’t leave until 1120 or so. That meant our arrival into Salinas at the Vision Quest B&B was tight. We needed to be there for 330 for a tour. We made it for 430 to do “Crunch Time” and “Butch’s Bedtime” but missed the parade.  Oh well.

Ryan (and I) wanted to get a Ford Mustang but we just couldn’t fit the luggage. So we settled on a Dodge Charger. Bo and Luke Duke’s it’s not. Now they are four doors and no confederate flag on the roof. It drives ok though.

Crunch time is feeding time for the lion, lynx and two boy tigers. Nadia is the lynx and she was very dainty. As solitary animal she doesn’t rush her food.

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Jacob the lion isn’t solitary nor as dainty. He does love his chicken though.

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Indie and Hobbs are great names for the Tigers. They are about 10′ long and 600 pounds, each!

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After Crunch Time it was time to put Butch, Buffy and Paula to bed. They are the African Elephants here. Butch is 15′ tall and 11 000 pounds. He’s not even a big male. Just average. Buffy is 50 years old and is probably 8000 or so pounds. Paula is just smaller at around 7500.

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That lumpy stuff you see isn’t dirt.  It’s a skin condition whereby it doesn’t slough off properly.

 

Oh, and they love carrots!

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Finally it was time for us to check in and get organized in our tent.

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Nicest tent I’ve ever been in!

Dinner was at the Monterey Coast Brew Pub. Tasty food and beer.

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We slept in the Bear Den tent and were serenaded by the black bear huffing and the leopard growls.

Breakfast was delivered by Butch. We fed him some apples, banana, sweet potato. Then we got our continental breaky.

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We then had some relaxing time till 1pm, when the zoo tour where we saw all the animals.

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There was viewing window and yes we got this close.

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Back to Salinas for a huge lunch and off to Monterey.

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