Monday, we met with the Hrabes and took a ride into Sacramento to visit the zoo. Immediately upon entering the facility we came across this gentleman holding a lumpy turtle. I believe it was from the middle east? Jonah is “petting” the creature while Jason is looking on (and working up to courage to pet him next!)
This is the group, Claire, Jason, Jonah and Benjamin. There are apparently scheming something!
Claire and Jason getting acquainted with some of the kittens while . . . We did see a male and female lion and a jaguar, which was majestic.
Benjamin and Jonah went “down under”.
Jason, Benjamin and Claire fed the giraffe on the giraffe viewing deck. There were five distinct species of giraffe in this “Giraffe Encounters” exhibit.
After watching the bongos next to the zebra exhibit, I was saddened to learn that one bongo, named Taylor Swift (really) was recently sent back to a wildlife refuge in her country of origin.
After we got worn out and the heat rose, we returned to the Hrabe’s home so the group could spend the afternoon swimming, jumping/diving and generally having fun in the water. The day was capped off with a pretty intense water balloon fight in the front yard.
Back at RiverPoint Landing, we pulled out the lounge chairs and enjoyed the sunset. Here is the view of the San Joaquin Deep Water Channel looking east.
And below is the view looking west, towards the Port of Stockton. There were several of these rowing groups enjoying the calm waters. These were taken from our site! Can’t get much closer to water than this.
In the morning, Jason got excited and called me out to see the “big boats”. I told Jason that these were apparently going to meet an even bigger boat, and sure enough, we saw this big fella coming around the corner. This is a 170m X 27+m, Panamanian flagged bulk carrier, built in 2012, with a deadweight of 28,000 tons and a capacity of 17,000 tons. We managed to watch three of these relatively large ships enter and exit the port during our stay.
Being next to the Stockton Sailing Club, we enjoyed watching the sailing boats, both large and small, tacking back and forth to head east, against the wind. We also “enjoyed” the multiples of bass boats racing out bright and early in the morning and returning to their dock at Buckley Cove after sunset. There were SJ County sheriff boats docked at the marina and they maintained a substation on site, but we noticed it only appeared to be in use on weekends. I did see several boat operators in bracelets make the perp walk in the afternoon. They are a lot stricter now than when I was boating this area. Jason and I walked the docks ogling the large yachts moored at our resort.
Travelling with the Schinglers 