Safari Six

Ben's birthday festivities continued into the weekend thanks to his amazing GG at Safari West.  Here's a little blimp from their website what this place is all about

              Safari West is a world class destination and resort for the discerning traveler – an African adventure in the

                   heart of California wine country. Guests may explore the Sonoma Serengeti on an African wildlife safari 

                   alongside romping herds of exotic wildlife or relax in a luxury safari tent under the gaze of a graceful giraffe. 

We arrived right before our safari and first order of business was for Ben to measure up to see if he could ride on the top of the open jeep, and luckily he just made the cut. 

Before our 1.5 hour jeep tour began we had a 45 minute walking tour where we explored the beautiful grounds and tramped around with giant tortoises, exotic birds, lemurs, and monkeys.  

We then hopped aboard this bad boy and got up close and personal with some larger varieties of animals. 

The giraffes came right up to our jeep except for the sweet baby one, who immediately ran off as soon as we approached.  The ostriches also weren't shy and came right up to us and were pecking at our brave driver.  I asked him if what I heard about emus were true of ostriches.  That they can run up to incredible speeds and tear the flesh off of humans with one bit.  He confirmed that this was in fact true, as he continued to stand outside the jeep and get pecked away at.  Ha!  He did say that males were much more aggressive and all their ostriches are female, or else he wouldn't be outside the jeep.  

Female ostriches or not, they got a little too close for James' comfort. 

Ben rode the second half of the trip up top with GG.  I was not about to try and climb me and my belly up there and James thought that he would get car sick, so thank goodness GG is always game.  I couldn't see his face but he kept shouting out questions and comments to the driver (he was not being shy at all let me tell you), and I could hear it in his voice that he was having the time of his life. 

As soon as we arrived a little before 4pm, I could smell the delicious dinner they were cooking up.  So by nearly 7:30 I was ready to dig in.  The BBQ style food did not disappoint, neither did the view.  

After our adventure we went back to our accommodations where we had to rough it for the evening.  : )  Ben was thrilled to have bunk beds and that he got to sleep up top. 

We ended the night with yet another ode to the birthday boy as we sang the traditional song and ate cake and ice cream.  Ben happily announcing to any fellow glampers that it was his birthday yesterday. My mother-in-law deemed this tradition as the safari six, so looks like we will be back in 3.5 years for Jackson.