Mom's California Visit, Part 2: Lindsay Wildlife Center and UC Davis

On Thursday, June 25 my mom, Trevor, and I said goodbye to Kari and Allison and headed to Lindsay Wildlife Experience. 

Despite living just 30 miles away for almost 50 years, Mom had never been there. This is particularly surprising given how much she loves animals and museums. I've been there 6 or 7 times and Trevor worked there last summer as an Animal Keeper intern, so this visit was all about showing Mom what a great place it is. 

    

We saw all the animals, of course. We attended a talk about chuckwallas, then watched the Wild California show, featuring a kestrel and a porcupine. 

They're doing construction on the Nature Cove, which was disappointing. That's one of my favorite spaces at Lindsay. The updated version opens in the fall. 

I wanted to add one more thing about Lindsay: I really appreciate the Social Narrative on their website. It provides a very detailed look about what to expect when visiting. I wish every place that is open to the public had something like this. I appreciate knowing where to park, for example. And more than once, we would have benefitted from detailed instructions on how to get into a building! 

After our visit to Lindsay, we made a quick stop at the house so Mom could meet our bunnies. Then we headed to the California Raptor Center, where Trevor gave us a tour. This was Mom's first visit and her first time seeing Trevor's Eagle Project in person. 

It was also her first time seeing Trevor holding a bird on the glove. That's Whistler, a dark morph Swainson's hawk. 

After a nice visit at the Raptor Center, we went to the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine for a tour. It is an impressive facility, to say the least. The school is ranked #1 in the country and #2 in the world, training 720 professional and graduate students a year, and providing veterinary care to over 50,000 animals. They have made countless advancements in veterinary medicine since the school opened in September 1948. 

The grounds have a lot of beautiful animal-themed art. 

This is the Faithful Partners Memorial. It honors all of the canine officers across California killed in the line of duty. 

Our tour took us through classrooms, examination rooms, hospital facilities, and more. We learned about all the amazing things that happen in this spectacular place. It's impressive. 

I didn't get a photo, but I was interested to learn that the school maintains a Toxic Plant Garden. There, students can study the 60+ toxic plants that pets and livestock are most likely to encounter. Brilliant!

Of all the things we saw, the space that interested me the most was this room: 

Vet students have 24/7 access to this space to practice medical procedures they're learning on models of both large and small animals. 

There are stations set up for practicing intubation, transfusions, catheterization, and more. 

I didn't think it was possible for me to love UC Davis more than I already did, but this tour impressed me so much. There are incredible things going on at the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine!

After the tour, we headed to Trevor's apartment so Mom could see it. We went out to dinner, then said goodbye to Trevor. Mom and I headed to Sacramento. We checked into The Exchange Sacramento, where we'd be spending the next three nights. It's a beautiful hotel, located in what was once the California Fruit Building, constructed in 1914. 

  

We had a full day ahead of us exploring Sacramento. I'll tell you all about it tomorrow.