Today's adventure: The San Diego Zoo!
I decided last night that I was going to go to the zoo today. I received a pass this summer (thanks again!) and hadn't been to the zoo in a long time - Not since the 2nd baby panda was born, and before Elephant Odyssey opened. I think that panda has a new baby every other month now. At least it seems that way!
Here's a copy of my zoo map. I don't know if you can see it, but I traced where I went on the map with a fushia colored pen. Basically, I went everywere except through the birds, bears and cats.
Honestly, when I go to the zoo, there are certain types of animals that I don't search out...
"Oh, another deer looking animal? great."
"Wow. A cat? Nice."
I like the fun animals. The animals you don't see relatives of very often, like rhinos, gorillas, elephants and hippos.
Speaking of hippos, I plopped Hippie into my purse today to take him to the zoo with me and use him in my pictures. I stopped at the kitchen table to shift all my stuff to allow room for a bottle of water, and then headed downtown. When I got to the zoo, I looked in my bag - and he was GONE! I spent 20 minutes ripping through my bag and car looking for him. I thought, "maybe he jumped out of my purse when I had it on the kitchen table...afraid that if he went to the zoo he may have to stay..."
I fretted about it off and on during the day, but continued into the zoo. Hippie should have been in this picture.
I apparently picked a great day to go to the zoo. It wasn't crowded at all, and the weather was nice.
Kind of off the subject, I walked down the Tiger Trail, and it's very rain forest-y. I think it would be a lot of fun to go back to the zoo when it is actually raining, well drizzling. It would be beautiful!
Ok, back to my story.
The animals must have known I was coming... They were definitely ready for me. Here are the highlights of the type of day I had. HAHAHAHA!
Up first, the pygmy chimps. They were hanging out on the far left side of the encounter, I think near the door they get fed from. One chimp saw me come to the window, and charged the window trying to scare me. He was not very scary. (Because I wasn't IN the encounter. Truthfully, I find chimps very scary. They can literally tear you apart!)
Then I saw this big guy... sleeping in the grass...
He woke up, looked around, and then decided he needed a little "hand relief," right as I was taking his picture...
SO FUNNY! Guess chimps aren't shy!
Next up: Orangutans. When I got to the encounter, they were all sitting behind this huge rock where you couldn't see them, except one girl that was minding her own business sitting at the top of the rope/wood unit they had in there for them to climb all over. Suddenly, 3 orangutans came out from behind the rock. Two smaller ones went left, and a bigger male one went toward the girl sitting up on the ledge. When he got over to her, he decided she needed some grooming. (I started to take out my camera...)
On her butt.
Yeah... by the time I got the picture taken, there was no grooming going on...
Apparently the zebras heard about the horny primates, and got a little happy themselves...
And that was kind of how the whole day went! HAHAHAHAHA!
There were other things I saw as well. For example, I went to Elephany Odyssey, and noticed that they had moved the Lions over to that area. There's really not much distance between the zoo guests and the lions. In fact, there were several of these very funny signs in front of the enclosure.
That's enough for me to make sure there is a barrier of small children in front of me next time I go! I'll think of them as being in the "Splash Zone."
Ok, I watched this show on Animal Planet a while back. There are these series they do called "Cats 101" and "Dogs 101" that highlight different breeds of cats and dogs and tell you about their history, behavior, needs...
Well, they added another angle and highlighted unusual pets. It's true that I would like to own a dog, and as many of you know the first pet I would like to get if ever rich and famous would be a baby elephant, but if I had to pick another more unusual pet? Hedgehog. Totally. In the first episode of that show, they were going to talk about hedgehogs! So I decided to watch it.
Then they talked about people who have these animals as pets...
A CAPYBARA?! Talk about an R.O.U.S.! It takes a very special person to want, much less keep, a capybara as a pet.
I am not one of those people.
By the time I got around the park, I figured it was late enough in the day that the animals were probably done being fresh for the guests.
Then I found this kangaroo...
To be fair to the kangaroo, it wasn't really "gettin' it on" when I pulled my camera out. I think it was doing a spring cleaning in its pouch. But with everything else I had seen during the day, I had to wonder what it was looking for in there...
Some animals were just hanging out, and I got some cute pictures of them as well. I thought I would share few:
Here's a gorilla just minding its own business eating some fruit. There were some other gorillas acting CRAZY, but she just sat up there watching the show. Ho Hum.
Then there was this hippo just hanging out under water. I saw two pygmy hippos before this. They live in an enclosure with monkeys. I wonder if the monkeys ever bother the hippos. They didn't seem to notice them while I was there, but it's kind hard not to notice a hippo...
Speaking of which, where IS Hippie...?
...and everyone has to see the baby panda. Apparently this little guy is days away from being permanently removed from his mom. Then she gets a couple months off before they will whore her out again...
I took a couple of cute pictures, and then tried to make it through the line. People are SO ENTHRALLED with the panda that they wouldn't move! They actually got mad at me when I said, "excuse me." Trying to get through the line and out of the enclosure. Hello? Let me out and it's one less person you have to look through to see the panda! Let. Me. Out!
Phew. Moving on...
I think rhinos are pretty cute too. I think the babies are cute when they run around and play. (Maybe not as cute as elephant babies, but they're up there.) No rhino babies today, but I thought these two rhinos were cute, all cuddled up together. Originally, I saw them from the back side of the enclosure, so the picture I got was of their butts. But then I walked around the "Urban Jungle," and found their fronts!
Of course, we can't leave without a trip to the elephants! Elephant Odyssey is really nice! It still doesn't seem like nearly enough room for elephants, but it is astronomically bigger than what they had before! I was amazed by the size of the metal beams they used on the doors in the elephant care center. HUGE.
This is a picture of one of the elephants that came over to the care center for a mid afternoon snack. They gave her a full melon (honeydew, I think) and she ate the WHOLE THING! (duh. she's a GIANT ELEPHANT.)
It was only amazing because right after they threw a bunch of fruits and vegetables out for the two elephants in that area of the enclosure to eat, and the pieces were cut really small. Apparently this elephant has more of a sweet tooth than the one it shares the enclosure with. They gave her a melon, and then she sifted through the fruits and vegetables to pick out the apple pieces and sweet potates. The other elephant went for carrots, and then was given 5 full bunches of celery. Elephants really are amazing.
There was a guy standing next to me, and we were talking about how cool the elephants were. That was nice. (No, I didn't get his number. He was from Las Vegas, and he was gay. Not exactly my type.)
Then I walked back down to where the African Elephants were. When I originally got to the elephants, they had the big-eared ones in the care unit while the keepers were in their enclosure cleaning up the poo. By the time I walked back that direction, they were out and playing! This guy was so cute. He was wandering around, playing with some of the toys. In this picture he kinda looks like he was dancing... maybe he was!
I was at the zoo for about 3.5 hours. I went back to my car and did a quick search for Hippie again. Where did that little guy go?? It was really fun, and a fast jaunt through the park since, as usual I was by myself. Speaking of which, most of the people I have daily contact with have zoo passes. I have 2 free passes and a few discount passes that you get when you buy a zoo membership. Since I am unemployed, and currently have lots of time, if anyone (that I know) wants to go with me sometime, let me know. Like I said - free ticket! :)
My foot started to hurt soon after the elephants. I wore flip flops shopping for a whole day back in July, and brusied the ball of my foot. Since you can't really NOT use your foot, it's never really healed. (No pun intended.) Plus, I hadn't eaten anything but a poptart (healthy!) all day, so I was ready to eat.
I was told sometime ago about a taqueria in Hillcrest that won Throwdown with Bobby Flay for its fish tacos...
Well, I have to drive past it to get home... might as well try them out!
Mama Testa's is on University. I get scared driving in Hillcrest and downtown when I don't know EXACTLY where to go, and if parking is available. There are too many one way streets. It freaks me out. But, I made it!
(I should not - however - admit that I got lost getting back to the freeway and ended up all the way back at the zoo before I found the 163 north...)
The tacos were good, though not what I expected. I've never had a hard-shelled fish taco before. The fish was battered (obviously), but tasted fresh. I enjoyed them. They were expensive though - $14.00 for two! I didn't realize until I went to pay. Next time I know to save up before I go down there.
They also had a salsa bar with about 9 different kinds of salsa. I didn't want to look like a pig, so I only tried two - mango & papaya salsa, and tomatillo & parmesan salsa. Ok, the chips? Heavenly. Warm, thin, with just enough salt... yum! I liked the flavor in the papaya and mango salsa. I was glad I had some beans and rice when I tried the other. I have a "gringo tongue." So, while I enjoy a wee bit of warmth, I'm not super into searing off my tongue or not being able to taste for a week. Next time, I'll ask which salsas are mild...
So, that was my day! When I got home, I was going to FIRST THING walk to the kitchen table and see if I could find Hippie. I parked my car, grabbed my bag, open the car door, put my foot down on the asphalt - AND THERE HE WAS! Right there in the street! My poor boy must have jumped out of my bag when I got in the car this morning, and spent the remainder of the day ON THE GROUND OUTSIDE! Horrible. I'm very lucky I found him. I'm even luckier that he is unscathed.
Next time I'm getting one of those kid leashes for him.
Until tomorrow!