And the Sky Ride was included!

Saturday, February 11. 2024

We had a delightful day at the world famous San Diego Zoo. I have to research why it is world famous, because it certainly is. Everyone I told I was going to San Diego said, “Zoo!” I guess that makes it Minnesota famous, but, ya know. Anyway, it was a really good zoo. Keith particularly liked the water falls and plants and general loveliness of the park. I liked that the sky ride and the tour buses were included in the price. We both liked the animals. The thing that struck me, though, is that most of the animals were only visible through bars or thick wires or some other kind of barrier. The MN zoo doesn’t have so much of that, so that is what I am used to. I like to take pictures, and I don’t like stuff in my way.

These two were NOT floating in water like the hippos I see at Disney World. They were walking around, looking like giant pigs, and eating grass. I cropped them between the bars and came up with this picture. Nom nom nom. We watched them for a long time.

The kid on the right kept pushing everyone around. She would come up to the one farthest away and she walk into her, causing a chain reaction. Kids…

This kitty is sticking her tongue out instead of running fast. There were two toddlers…toddling..and she was WATCHING. Interesting.

We watched these two forever. They were very excited about their eucalyptus leaves, so much so that they wouldn’t pose – too much repositioning to get maximum eatage. (Wait. Eatage is a word? No squigglies under it…like under squigglies….)

The girls were sleeping. They look like toys.

Baboons, man, what are they even about? There were a bunch of them and they were going all over the place and eating and hanging out and then this one made some NOISE, accompanied by rolled back eyes and scary teeth. Dude, use your words!

We were in an area called the Ethiopian highlands. A whole area dedicated to high parts of a country I would be hard pressed to find on a map (three guesses – yes. First guess…mmmm….probably not). What is this thing with an upside down red heart on his chest? It a Geladen. No. Let me go look it up. It’s a Gelade. I was so close! It’s a new animal (to me). I love a new animal. I remember when red pandas were new – about 29 years ago. I was so excited. I love red pandas. We saw some today, going fast. Good red pandas.

The synchronized existing lemur team!

They said there are 70 kinds of penguins and only 4 of them live year round in the cold. What? These guys were not there, then they were there briefly, then they disappeared. Whooosh.

It was way prettier in real life. And waterfall sounds are great, aren’t they?

This bird had amazing eyelashes. I don’t think you can tell, but he did.

This is how I feel when I nap.

World’s longest elephant!!! Or part of two elephants behind a pole. It made me laugh.

I did not know llamas came in polka dots

The California condor! He’s a carrion eater, so he has no head feathers to keep the germs from getting on his head. In 2002, there were only 8 pairs of them left in the wild – now there are 500. Conservation and helping! Yay!

Peccary, looking at me.

Antelope-y guy called a gerenuk. He has quite a long neck and all I could think was of a cheetah chasing him and getting him by the neck. Ew. Antelope are kinda just food for cool cats. That is mean, but that is what I thought.

The polar bear on the right is not a wolf. She came out and just rolled and rolled and rolled in the dirt and turned wolf colored. I was hoping she would jump into the water and we could watch the dirt float away, but no, she just lounged.

I’m a harbour seal!

Boeuf Bourguignon and a French dip sandwich. Keith said the boeuf was not only good for a theme park, it was good for anywhere. I tasted and it was delicious. No one expecting that.

Me getting to know a jaguar. Big kitties are the best.

Sky ride!! We rode a bunch of time, because sky rides are the best. And this one was free. Free is best. Double best!

This tall bridge connects the lower part of the zoo to the upper part of the zoo. There is a big elevator behind that red roofed building. I enjoyed it very much. I couldn’t help remembering the first time I went to the Stone Arch bridge with my friend, Carla, her kids and my kids. I was SURE the kids were going to stupid themselves off the bridge and I kept shrieking whenever they got near the edge. I was so nervous it hurt. I was totally fine today. Look how I’ve grown (and look how my kids have grown and are not liable to stupid themselves off a bridge and look how there is a high railing with fencing all along the bridge).

View of something from the sky ride. I assume it is a church and bell tower, but one should never assume. I think it is lovely.

View of town from the sky ride. And a bridge that looks like an aqueduct. Or an aqueduct that is also a bridge. Never assume…

Me and a frog, hanging out. Obviously. I am wearing my new coat I found in our front hall closet. It is not mine, but it fit and I thought I could use a lighter jacket for this trip, so I brought it. If it is yours, let me know. I will return it. I am being very careful not to get it dirty.

We did a LOT of birds. There were a LOT of aviaries. This orange headed bird kept buzzing Keith’s head and fluffing his hair. It was great fun. He was sitting right in front of us – about a foot away – right in front of the sign about him. Good bird!

This little orangutan put on quite a show for us. Thanks, buddy.

There was a bus tour of the park that we took toward the end of the day. This guy was sitting in front of Keith. Keith pointed out that he had Bruce Lee’s face on the back of his hoodie before the tour started, but that didn’t stop me from thinking someone was staring awkwardly at me at least four times during the ride.

We stopped by Jungle Snacks because a cookie ice cream sandwich was being held hostage and Keith needed to free it.

This giant anteater was hoovering up ants from the hole he dug. We could see his jaw going like mad. It was so cool. He was so cool. Look at that tail. Looks at those stripes. I watched his feet for a while and he has cool feet. I like giant anteaters.

The cat trap was not working. The mountain lion was not in the box.

We took a Lyft back to the airport and picked up a rental car. We hadn’t been intending to do that, but after much lack of communication and planning, we decided to get one. There was a lady with several suitcases waiting for husband, who was ahead of Keith. I chatted her up, and she chatted me right back. Her name is Kathy and she is originally from SD, but she lives on Fox Island (that could be wrong. It is an island and it has a bridge to it. Gig Harbour might have been mentioned. Kristine, any ideas?) near Seattle now. She worked for Microsoft until 1993. She started as a temp and was data entry. She took the employee information (there were about 500 employees) that was on index cards and entered it into a database. That was a while ago, wasn’t it? Her husband came back, but then he left. Keith arrived. Kathy and I were busy chatting…for about another half an hour. It is always so nice to meet people. We drove 36 minutes to our new hotel for the week in Oceanside. There is a Murphy bed behind those doors to the right. MURPHY BED! There was also a separate bedroom with a not-Murphy-bed.

As if the day hadn’t been delightful enough, Ketih went the two minutes to In-n-Out burger for our 9pm dinner. We have never had In-n-Out before, but have certainly heard about it. I texted Daniel to learn what we should order. Good thing, because we would NOT have known about ordering things animal style (they cook mustard onto the burger and add grilled onions and pickles and extra sauce). Keith forgot to order the fries animal style (melted cheese, onions, and secret sauce), so we will have to go again while we are here.