Journeys›Photograph

A Birthday Celebration With Some Very Fluffy Alpacas

·Pala, California·#summer#birthday#southern-california#cake#alpacas
Close-up of an alpaca with light brown curly fur, with other alpacas, trees, and a fence in the blurred background.

The week included a birthday, which we decided to celebrate with an alpaca theme. We found a local place with a whole herd of them, all hanging out in a dusty pen under the bright June sun. They were curious and got right up close to the fence. The alpacas came in all different colors—white, brown, black—and some looked a little funny with their fresh summer haircuts, all skinny necks and fluffy heads.

The theme, of course, continued with the food. There was a bright yellow cake topped with two little alpaca figures and green cacti, which we set up on a table right there by the enclosure. I also had a pink llama cupcake on a matching paper plate. It was a simple, fun way to celebrate outdoors, with the real things milling around just a few feet away.

The day ended quietly back at home. The sun went down over the hills, leaving these bright, saturated orange clouds behind. It was a nice, calm end to a day that was mostly about cake and very soft animals.

The face of a fluffy light brown alpaca up close, with a fence and other alpacas in a sunny outdoor enclosure.Two alpacas touch noses while a dark alpaca stands nearby in a fenced outdoor enclosure.A shaggy alpaca looks at the camera, with other shorn alpacas in a sunny outdoor enclosure.A dark brown alpaca close-up, with other alpacas and a white fence in a sunny dirt enclosure.A white alpaca looks over a white fence with trees and blue sky in the background.A person holds a pink llama-themed plate with a pink cupcake decorated as a llama face, over a striped blanket.A yellow two-tier cake decorated with two llama figures, cacti, and flowers sits on a striped blanket with alpacas in the background.Orange and yellow clouds at sunset over houses on hills near the ocean.

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