San Diego Zoo
Posted: Fri Oct 03, 2008 8:52 amBetty 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.
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.
