California 2012 - The Monkees Concert - Dreams Do Come True - Day 7 Part 2

 ***Monkees Post***Monkees Post***

This is Day 7 - Part 2. 

Day 7 - Part 1 (Safari Park) is here.

 The Monkees started their 12 city reunion tour in Escondido on November 8 2012.

I have been a fan since the early 90s when the TV show was on Much Music every day.  I really never thought I'd get to see them in concert ever so when they announced the tour and the dates worked for the trip to California anyway and they were playing in the same town where the McGinns live it just had to happen!

 The tickets were my birthday present.

Awesome seats - first balcony, first row centre.

With the telephoto lens I got some great shots of the old guys.

 Mike

 Peter

 Micky

 (no Davy - he died in February)

 Singing "Sweet Young Thing"

"Sunny Girlfriend"

 "Mary Mary"

"Mary Mary"

 "Randy Scouse Git"

 "Daily Nightly"

 "Tapioca Tundra"

 "Circle Sky"

 "What Am I Doin Hangin Round?"

"Listen to the Band"

 "Listen to the Band"

The big finale:

 "Pleasant Valley Sunday"

 It was such a great concert.  The guys sounded great - Mike's songs are my favs and there were lots of them!

Special thanks to Jill and Mark for babysitting and driving us to the concert :) And to my great husband for getting me the tickets and going with me!

The next day was the big trip home and most importantly Gwen's 2nd Birthday!!!

California 2012 - Day 7 Safari Park

On our last full day in California we went to the Safari Park for the morning with Aunt Jill!

 These girls were excited to see more animals!

 A zookeeper had a monitor out for a close up look.

 Cara rode a rhino!

 And a bench!

 Daddy Bat and Cara Bat just hangin' around.

 Cara was very excited for the lions.

 "I smell Canadians."

 That's our ride!

(just kidding)

 The views of lions here was much better than at the SD Zoo.

This one was having a bath right at the glass wall.

 A close up view.

 That's close enough!

 We went on a Safari tram ride around the giant African enclosure.

 The vistas were great.

 The view from the half way point.

It was so neat seeing the animals in such a wide open space.

 They can even behave like in nature - the guide said these guys were sitting in a circle to watch for predators coming from any direction.

 They had 3 different variety of giraffe!

 Back by the lions there was more activity.

 African elephants!

We watched the elephants for a long time.  There were so many in the herd and they were very active - playing and running.  There were a few babies with them too - one was very little and still nursing from his mama - so cute :)

 Gwen was happy to be a butterfly!

 Cara got to ride an okapi!!

 Gwen on an elephant.

 Droplets of water? in SoCal? what?!

There was so much more to see at this zoo but rain was coming and we had other things to do on our last day.  Next trip we'll spend a whole day here.

 It was time for a late lunch so we left the Safari Park (Gwen was so tired she was asleep before we left the parking lot!).

 Stopped at In-N-Out for a taste of the local fast food.  Verdict: yummy.

 Before supper Daddy and Charlotte took the girls to the playground.

Charlotte got some great pictures!

A great last day!

And it didn't end there - this was the night of The Monkees reunion concert!

But that's another post :)