2 Must-See Places in Southern California

There are many amazing places to explore in the southern part of California. In this post, we will be exploring two of them: La Brea Tar Pits near Los Angeles, and San Diego Safari Park...

La Brea Tar Pits

Have you ever wondered what it must have been like to walk the earth tens of thousands of years ago? Or even further back in time? What kinds of animals were there? What did they look like? These questions are explored at La Brea Tar Pits...

La Brea Tar Pits is filled with ancient animal bones and fascinating stories! Make sure to check out the observation pit, where you can see what the bones look like before they have been excavated and cleaned...

You can also see scientists at work cleaning the bones inside the Paleontology Lab...I wonder if they constantly feel they are on display?

There are many skeletons on display in the museum, and some renditions of what scientists believe some of the animals used to look like, such as this saber-tooth cat and giant ground sloth...

and here's a saber-tooth skeleton...

The biggest skeleton on display is, of course, the woolly mammoth! Wouldn't want to run into one of those...

There are also other kinds of mammoths, such as the Columbian mammoth, which weren't quite as tall...

Another predatory animal roaming around the earth tens of thousands of years ago was the dire wolf, which were much bigger than modern-day wolves...

There are so many fascinating creatures that used to be alive! Make sure to check them all out:)

San Diego Safari Park

Have you ever wanted to go on safari? Seen animals that live far away up close and personal? Learn more about how these animals live and what they eat? Then you should check out the Safari Park in San Diego!

Another worthwhile place to visit in southern California is the San Diego Safari Park.

It is full of modern-day animals, mostly from Africa, and covers over 1800 acres! Plenty of room for the animals to move around in, which ,in my opinion, is much nicer than a zoo...

Take a ride on the tram around where giraffes, gazelle, and many other animals roam...

Then walk along the many paths to explore even more animals! Not too far off one of the paths a lion sometimes rests on top of an old vehicle...

And there are some less familiar animals as well, such as this eland...

There are also cheetahs, the fastest land mammal on earth...

warthogs, like our friend Pumba on the Lion King...

gorillas (you may even see a baby gorilla!)...

and don't forget flamingos!

Another one of the predators kept at the Park is the Bengal Tiger, the national animal of India. Luckily, they are not as close to the path, and you must look down to find them...sometimes they can be seen resting in the shade...

The Park has more than just animals to see, including tons of cacti growing on the hills...

and don't forget to check out the Bonsai Pavilion, full of Bonsai trees...

and whole little Bonsai forests! It is amazing what they can do with these trees...

Both places make a great day trip and are worth checking out!

At the time of this writing in July 2020, La Brea Tar Pits is currently closed because of the pandemic, but the San Diego Safari Park remains open since it is mostly outside.

If you go, please respect all social distancing rules, and have fun!

If you want more information please check out these websites:

La Brea Tar Pits: https://tarpits.org/experience-tar-pits

San Diego Safari Park: https://www.sdzsafaripark.org/

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