I love a good zoo

Yes, yes, I'm on the cusp of old lady-hood, but that doesn't dampen my excitement at the thought of visiting a zoo. We've got several excellent zoos here in Texas, but I've always wanted to tour the one in San Diego. Back in the day, I recall watching Johnny Carson's Tonight Show (and Carson's successor Jay Leno) to see Joan Embery bring various critters from the San Diego Zoo onto the set. I was always fascinated and found it highly entertaining, particularly Johnny Carson's reactions to some of the animal's antics.

As expected, the San Diego zoo did not disappoint on our recent spring break trip. My sister and I got many a step in as we trekked around to all of the exhibits. We were thinking the new pandas might mean a long line, but it wasn't bad at all. The only issue was that the pandas were both flopped out snoozing with their backs to all of us curious onlookers. At least we got a good look at the red pandas. Not to brag here, but I wasn't particularly impressed at the thought of pandas since the husband and I took our girls to China's panda research center in Chengdu exactly twelve years ago this month for their school's spring break while living in England. All four of us actually got to hold a panda. It was so cool. But I digress.

As always, the primates were highly entertaining and they had quite a few different species on exhibit. My sister was a fan of the birds, so we walked through several aviaries. I've gotta admit, you could smell the flamingos before you spied them. They put on quite the show, too. 

 

The elephants are always impressive. We strolled through the reptile house, which never fails to give me a case of the heebie jeebies. As we walked the zoo, I couldn't help but notice all of the wonderful flora that was planted in each of the different regions where the animals were native. What I hated seeing was how some ill-mannered tourists thought it would be fun to graffiti the bamboo growing in several spots. I have a hard time wrapping my brain around why some folks feel compelled to write things on places where it doesn't belong. And particularly on a living plant. I believe the term "village idiot" is highly applicable to these plant defacers.

 

 

We were surprised when we spied the zoo's skyfari. This aerial tram ride gave us a lovely bird's eye view not only of the zoo, but also adjacent Balboa Park in the distance. I'm not a fan of heights, so I didn't dangle over the side for some fabulous pics. Below is about the best I could do as we made our way from one side of the zoo to the other. All in all it was a wonderful day and I was happy to check the San Diego Zoo off my bucket list.

 

PS - I went back through some old folders to find evidence of our visit to Chengdu, getting up close and personal with the toddler-aged pandas, as well as snapping some wonderful pics of them. They were so stinkin' cute, y'all, with their roly poly bodies and clownish personalities.