Kathleen Drevik at The San Diego Zoo

Hello, I’m Kathleen Drevik and today I am writing about my travels to the San Diego Zoo. First, a bit of history-The San Diego Zoo was formed after the nineteen fifteen worlds fair where an exhibit of animals from overseas was abandoned by one of the fair’s exhibitors. Founded by HaroldWegeforth, the zoo selected a site on a piece of land in Balboa Park. In an unusual arrangement the city owns the animals and the zoo takes care of the care and feeding of them animals. The animal count grew quickly in those first few years, bolstered by an acquisition of animals from the Wonderland Amusement Park, a park that had gone out of business.

In nineteen twenty-three the zoo enlisted the aid of Frank Buck, a well-known animal researcher, to become the director of the zoo in 1923. Mr. Buck was signed to a three-year contract but soon it was apparent that he and Wegeforth began to butt heads since both were stubborn and strong willed. Despite the three-year contract, Mr. Buck left the zoo after only three months to pursue his passion of animal collecting.

A string of short-lived chief executives followed, but in 1925 Mr. Wegeforth hired Belle Benchley, the former bookkeeper to be the executive secretary of the zoo, a de-facto position of Zoo director. A few years after her promotion Benchley was given the title and formally announced as zoo director, becoming the first female zoo director in the world. She held that distinction until a few years before her retirement in 1953.

In 1975 the zoo founded The Center ForReproduction of Endangered Species. Founded by Kurt Benirschke who as the inaugural director, refined the mission and later renamed it the Institute for Conservation Research.

In my next post, I’m going to go into detail about the various animals and exhibits that can be found at The San Diego Zoo.  I’ll have pictures, too! Stay tuned!

~Kathleen Drevik

Kathleen Drevik Knoxville in South Carolina

I recently had the pleasure of taking a mini vacation to the coast of SouthCarolina. For those of you not familiar with the State of South Carolina, it is one of the most beautiful and accessible coasts on the Atlantic. Rolling sand dunes, abundant wild life and attractions such as state parks, restaurants, and shopping are everywhere.

The relatively humid climate is somewhat mitigated by the breezes off of the ocean if you are near the coast. The areas upstate and inland are slightly less hot and humid; it seems hotter due to the lack of breeze off of the ocean. Upper temperatures in the summer hover around the mid nineties with the overnight temperatures are around the low to mid seventies.  Winter temperatures are much more variable with the coastal areas averaging daytime highs in the sixties and nighttime lows in the forties. Inland, the winter high temperature average is around thirty-two degrees and the nighttime lows are around twenty five degrees.

Precipitation is present all year round with the coastal areas receiving slightly more rain than the inland areas. Snowfall is not that common although the inland areas may see up to an inch a year with some of the coastal areas not recording any snowfall for years at a time. An exception is the mountains in far northwestern South Carolina which average up to twelve inches of snow per year. Tropical storms, cyclones and hurricanes have been known to hit the coast with the most recent being Hurricane Hugo in 1989.

TheHurricane season goes from June 1 to November 30. The most activity occurs from August to October so travelers looking to take a late season vacation must plan their trip accordingly.

This the end of Part1 in part two I will go into the beaches and recreation areas of South Carolina along with the must see sights and places to stay.

-Kathleen Drevik

Kathleen Drevik of Knoxville-Trip to Denali

Hi, I'm Kathleen Drevik of Knoxville Tennessee and Today, I'm going to share a bit about my trip to Denali National Park in Alaska.

Located in the interior of Alaska, and built around the tallest mountain in North America, it is twenty four thousand five hundred square kilometers (or six million acres) of beauty.  At the lower elevations you will see forests with a mix of tree species. This gives way to tundra at the middle areas, and the higher elevations are mostly rock and snow. There are a number of glaciers in the park, with the largest being the Kahiltna Glacier.

The National Park and Preserve encompasses the Alaskan Mountain Range along with glacier valleys and glaciers running out of the National Park and Preserve. The park and preserve are home to the Forakler river, the Toklat River, and the Mckinley river as well as rolling hills named the Wyoming and Kantishna. On the West side of the park are preserve lands. These areas allow hunting by permit, but in the park, hunting is limited to local residents that are allowed to hunt for food. Eleven miles South of Healy is the entrance to the Park and Preserve. You will find, just inside the entrance a visitors center along with headquarters of the park.

Grizzly bears and Black bears abound in the park along with a large variety of mammals and birds. Moose can be seen around the lakes and other water features and mountain sheep are quite plentiful. Caribou roam through the park and are known to saunter on the roads so be aware when coming around curves in the roadway. The park is also home to a number of smaller mammals such as lynxes, marmots, ground squirrels, beavers, Red foxes, and pikas. These animals are quite wary and are good at hiding so consider yourself lucky if you see one.

Late summer brings many migratory birds to the park including a variety of wheaters and raptors.

If you are looking for a great family vacation that will awe young and old alike, you can’t do any better than Denali.