Where have you been?

Now for some primate photos from the San Diego Zoo. This guy is enjoying some afternoon leaves in his very nice home. You can see in the right hand photo how nice some of the displays can be. It's not nature but pretty close.

A very photogenic gentleman.


And his friend.

The zoo often allows the guest to get into the act as well!

IMHO the coolest thing we saw at the zoo was a huge wolf. As we were walking from the primate area towards the hippos we happened upon a few zoo handlers who were walking the wolf. You can see his face pretty well in this photo and the other shows him enjoying some treats.

The handlers said that wolfs do not like to be around people (or other animals) and are therefor very nervous in the zoo. To overcome this they pair the wolfs up with dogs. The idea is that once the wolf trusts or befriends the dog some of the dog's calm around people will rub off on the wolf. Intersting theory but this wolf was still a bit unsure of all the people. One thing I like about these two photos is that you can really see the size of the wolf. He is at least twice the size of the dog!

By far my personal favorite display is that of the hippopotamuses. In the two above photos you can see the basic layout. There is a bit of dry ground and then there is a small lake with a thick glass wall for viewing. I don't know if they are always in the water but whenever I have been down to the zoo they are in the water chilling as we see them here. It's really neat because you have such a great vew of the animals. Plus there are always schools of fish swimming about and birds loafing around. Here we can also see the common tourist too.


And naturally you can get good photos of them.


With a bit of Photoshop magic you can combine two photos to make one perfect one. Find a good background with the hippos and a nice foreground and voi-la, a magnificent yet fake photograph.

Sorry I have been such a lazy SOB, I will try to be better in the future. As a consolation I have made some long overdue updates to the site including a nice new photo of myself on the About Us page. I have also set up a Destination Guide as a directory by location (by arbitrary 'lable' actually) of my photos.

So, back to our trip. As you can tell from the title and the photo above we visited the San Diego Zoo next. It is about fourty minutes drive from my sister's house and she and one of my nephews went with us.

The best thing about the zoo, in addition to the conservation and research they do, is the way the animal exhibits are set up. It seems that little expense has been spared and each exhibit looks like a real jungle, desert, or other natural habitat. Above we can see the hyena exhibit which has an African savannah look going. Anyway, the hyenas looks more or less happy and this one took an interest in the tour bus, another fantastic feature of the zoo, and one of the smelly tourists aboard in particular.

Below we can see some photos of the many species of birds present at the park. Like the hyena exhibit the bird aviaries and open bird ponds have a very natural feel to them. Some birds, like the peacock shown here, are allowed to wander the park at will.

So we have had a long weekend due to two holidays and I haven't been motivated to post. First was the May 1st Holiday, or Labor Day as the communists like to call it. And today, May 3rd, is National 3rd of May Holiday. Catchy name although its more commonly called Constitution Day (which makes more sence because it is a day to celebrate the original Polish constitution). Any-who, I have been lazy lately so no posts. Here, however, are links to our photos from the trip. My girlfriend posted many of them on Picasa and now I pass them on to you. I will continue to post pictures and stories but if you want to peek into the future here you go!

• Los Angeles
• Easter
• San Diego Zoo
• Sea World
• Mexico
• The River
• Hoover Dam
• Utah
• Hollywood

Highlights of the Easter Egg Hunt. Above photos are from the back yard.

And from the front yard. These photos are compliments of my sister.

Easter Sunday was spent with my family. First we had a small bite to eat at my brother's house with his in-laws and some friends. Then, after a short drive, we had a second Easter at my aunt and uncle's house. There was more family for my girlfriend to meet (my mother's family this time) and some traditional American Easter activities. There was the normal meal (which is less traditional and extensive than the usual Polish Easter feast) plus Easter Egg things. We started with an Easter Egg Hunt in the back and front yards of the house. Normally this is reserved for the "children" of the family but a special concession was made because it was my girlfriend's first hunt - she and I both participated against the younger generation. These two pictures show all of us after the hunt demonstrating our juggling skills.


Apparently the Polish are professional Easter Egg hunters because my girlfriend tied for first place her very first time! This picture shows her opening her prize.

After the Easter Egg Hunt we then had an egg painting competition. We each painted one wooden egg and then everyone voted on their favorite. The photo on the left shows my girlfriend and sister working diligently on their eggs. The right hand photo is my skillfully painted and patriotic egg. He is a period egg set in the American frontier complete with a coonskin cap. Dispite all this my egg did not even place in the competition. There must have been a conspiracy against my 'Eggy Crocket' egg.

After basking in the sunshine for several hours in downtown Long Beach we headed over to my buddies house for a BBQ. It was the gang from UC Irvine and it was nice to find out that everyone was doing well. Here are a few photos from the day.


Sorry ladies but I have just found out that Mr Wonderful (pictured above) has recently been approached by a lovely young lady in whoes company he is now spending his time. If he becomes available again I will be sure to post details here!

Our first Saturday morning was spent in downtown Long Beach. We walked aroud the shops, the lighthouse and Rainbow Harbor. I have already posted several photos from Long Beach so here a just a few news ones including two of us there.

One of the main points of our trip was for my girlfriend to meet my family. A big step in most relationships, in our's it was quite overwhelming considering my girlfriend's family consists of about seven people, her included, while in mine there are over sixty people. She only met about half of my family but all in the first four days of our trip. Naturally the first person she met was my father, who met us at the airport. Then, a bit later that day, my mother and my brother's family (who we stayed with). Then, that evening, my step-mom and two of my step-sisters with their children. So, we had been in the country for about six hours and already she had met eleven people.

On Friday we went to a BBQ at my step-grand parents home where she met an additional twenty people or so. Not only was there family but also long time family friends as well as some of my step-sister's in-laws. The picture above left is from their house. From left to right we have my girlfriend, my father with one grand child on his lap, and me with another grand child on my lap. The picture on the right shows my girlfriend with my niece and thier new dog Dylan.


Dylan didn't like me very much at the beginning but eventually he came around. We played fetch, I fed him treats, we played tug-of-war, all that stuff. But as we can see in this picture the first few days he was a bit leery of my presence in the house.

In addition to all of my family we also met with many of my friends. The photo above left shows my girlfriend chatting with three of my friends at another BBQ on Saturday. For all of you Polish girls out there that handsome bald guy second from left is available and will travel! And finally on Sunday, Easter, we met with my mother's family, an additional twenty or so people. The picture on the right is from that event and shows my sister and her family talking with my girlfriend.