Welcome to the long weekend, guys! We kicked things off with a visit to Malibu Wine Safaris on Friday morning. Located just short of an hour north of us in Saddlerock Ranch, Malibu Wines is just a little different from your average winery.

Side note: we booked our tour a few weeks in advance, but of course it ended up being on the only cloudy day ever in LA. Every other day when I shoot photos, I pray for a cloud or two, but on this day it was almost completely overcast! #murphyslaw

Shortly after we checked in, we loaded into the safari truck and were shuttled to our first stop: the trailer park.

This trailer park is not your ordinary trailer park. It’s filled with vintage airstreams and colorful trailers, each with their own unique theme. Here, we tasted two whites and a rosé (which was my favorite, by the way) as we enjoyed the views of one of the five wedding venues in the winery.

We then made our way to see a very special dude, Stanley the Giraffe. After appearing in The Hangover and various Hollywood projects, he’s retired at the winery, filling his days with tourist visits and photo shoots with the people who come by and feed him munchies.

Probably one of the only times I’ll ever come so close to this majestic animal… Stanley was so sweet and licked my entire hand with his long purple tongue.

Giraffes aren’t the only exotic animals that reside within the winery. We visited water buffalo, zebras, alpacas, and llamas just down the road from Stanley’s enclosure.

Anyone who knows me knows I’m a huge sucker for animals. Animal Planet was my go-to entertainment network of choice growing up, so being able to learn more about these guys and see them up close and personal was an absolute delight.

I’m telling you, if you had a couple bucket fulls of lettuce, you’d be the most popular person walking through Saddlerock Ranch. All of these guys came right up to us, expecting a leafy green as our way of saying “hello!”

The ranch is home to some beautiful horses, too. Pictured above is Dolce, a gorgeous horse who offered us free kisses as we walked by.

Our last stop came with three red wines to taste and some crackers and dip. One of the newest additions to Saddlerock Ranch is a farm-to-table style garden and kitchen where we enjoyed our final drinks and bites.

Thanks to our friends at Malibu Wines for inviting us to take their safari tour!