Lessons From Our First Road Trip to The Fantastic Roadtrip-a-Matic

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of PA Tourism for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
We love road trips, despite our very first one was unplanned and I must say had lots of travel mistakes we could have avoided had we planned it well. Back then, I did not have much experience on travel planning. Despite the trip could have been better, nevertheless, it gave us realization to pursue this kind of road cruising, trail hiking, all to be one with the beauty of nature.  Our very first long road trip and maybe the longest was from Chicago to San Diego. We flew from Los Angeles to Chicago, spent 2 days and 3 nights there. The first day of our road trip was when we left Chicago driving southwest to San Diego.

Chicago, IL, Summer 2007

Summer Is Almost Here....Look Who Enjoys Bathing In The Sun

Casa Beach, La Jolla, San Diego

 Almost summer now. It seems like we are blessed with warmer water this time of the year! As early as first week of June, our water temperature ranges now from 64- 68F (17- 20C). Even though that is not really the recommended swimming temperature (70s to low 80s) to avoid sickness related to hypothermia, but the reality for this side of the coast is that the water seldom hits 70sF. Most of the summer time, the water stays only in the 60sF (below 20C). What people mostly do is dip in the water for 15-20 minutes (those who can stay that long), and then, warm up in the sand to avoid hypothermia. Or as what you will see with most surfers and snorkelers who stay in the water longer, wear wet suit to trap the heat for the body.

Fruits On the Go

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Quaker Oats for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.

                                               

 F

 R

 U

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 T

                                 

So delicious...So nutritious and 

So luscious! who could resists them?

Cheetah Run Safari at San Diego Zoo Safari Park

Amara Completing the 100 meters in 5.6 seconds

Cheetahs are the fastest land mammal. They can run up to 75 miles per hour (112- 120 km/h). There are not many places in the world to see up close the fastest land mammal run, thankfully, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park now offers this chance to park visitors without additional cost. It used to be for several years that the cheetah run safari could be experienced by park visitors who were willing enough to pay $100+ in addition to their admission fee for the event in a cheetah track. Thankfully, since July of last year, the Cheetah run Safari is now included with the park admission. There are three cheetahs trained to run off leash at the cheetah run safari. They are Amara, Johari and Shiley. All the pictures in this post is Amara, from her run last Saturday where she completed the 100 meters for 5.6 seconds.

White Pelicans At Salton Sea

Salton Sea with White Pelicans

We did not really have any plans to stop in this part of Salton Sea. However, on our way to Algodones Sand Dunes from Indian Wells where we watched live tennis (BNP Paribas Open) last March 2012, I saw dots of white contrasting the blue from our running car. I told hubby, "dear, a lot of birds dotting the sea, I am 100% sure,they are not sea gulls, because they look huge even if we are this far!" My hubby responded, " let me know if you want to pull over for them."

Random Coastal Bird Photos

 California Brown Pelicans