San Diego Zoo

[oregontocal]

Betty and I played tourists yesterday and spent the day at the zoo. She has an annual pass so we slid right in for free. And, since we went in the middle of the week and in the morning, it was very uncrowded and not even very hot. Yep, that's right--weather here has been in the high 90s for several days. I hadn't been to the zoo since my son was a kid and he's now almost 21, and the place has gotten beautiful! So many wonderful changes. When I was growing up down here, we used to spend a lot of time at the zoo, and I remember all the animals being in cages and lots of dry, dusty paths to walk from one place to the next. Now there's still a lot of walking, but it's mostly through rain forests, aviaries and other shaded areas. However, I sure wouldn't want to go there on a weekend!

Here are only a few of the 190 pictures I took. She took even more.

There are lots and lots of flamingos - it's so much fun to watch them walk in their stiff-legged way. Many of the younger ones have not yet gotten their bright pink color


We loved watching this guy with his tree branch - I swear he was playing to the audience. The walking path in the monkey and ape area is paved with something very soft and resilient to walk on, most likely recycled tires or something like that. Very comfortable - had me wishing all concrete floors in the world could be replaced with this type of surface.


I had no idea ferns had these pine-cone looking things


We watched several of these herons ( I think) fly overhead to other parts of the zoo where we saw them later on.


We spent a lot of time watching these two hippos - Betty reminded me of the movie "Fantasia" with her comment that they should be wearing tutus.


There are lots of huge koi in the water - beautiful area


These are just a few of the many koalas asleep in the trees


The panda exhibit is probably the most popular - there have been several born in the past few years.


Even those we might consider kind of ugly have their special places.


One of the three zebras we watched. According to a sign, there are three different kinds, and you can tell the difference by the placement of their stripes.

[AlmostThere]

wonderful pictures! I love visiting zoos eventhough it's lots of walking.

[JanJer]

Thanks Chris... I love zoos. Would love to see all 190 pics

Jan

[retiredhappy]

Loved the pictures. Brought back lots of memories. When my daughter was little we spent hours at the Zoo and Wild Animal Park.

[Bethers]

I've always heard good things about the SD zoo - some day maybe I'll get there. I, too, like the way most zoos have gone to more realistics enclosures for the animals. I hated zoos when I was young and they all were in cages everywhere. Now, I can spend hours at some of them. Great pics - thanks so much for sharing!

[dpf]

San Diego Zoo is wonderful...but if any of you are ever in the Midwest...I highly recommend the Henry Doorly Zoo in Omaha, too.

[SeeyaGal]

Dan & I loved the San Diego wild animal park, it's the nursery for the Zoo. Went there in 2005 or 2006 at Christmas time. During the day you saw all the animals and took the tram around the park and then took the tram around in the dark to see the animals come out at night. It was really cool and because it was Christmas time they had it all lit up at night and brought in snow for the kids to inner tube down..how cool!! Lost my Safari hat there, found another in Quartzsite last year.

[snowball]

Seen parts of the zon at Omaha It is so good and so big!!!
Have always wanted to see the SD zoo!!! Its in the bucket list
Thanks for sharing the pics with us
sheila