I am going to share something that struck me as "brilliant," but now that I prepare to write it down, my idea seems less brilliant and more "duh: isn't it obvious?"
Here I go: Our summer is way too short. The days are going to zip by. I feel very guarded and greedy about them, like they are sips of water in a desert crossing. In other words: We do not want to waste our summer days. So, we made a list of absolutely every single thing we would love, like, sorta want to do this summer. It includes everything from the Shanghai World's Fair to
going to the zoo. Some things on the list may not happen. Some things on the list already did happen. Some things on the list I gotta figure out. We just wanted to be sure we had all of our ideas stated, added to the written list, so we were never without a
plan.
Yes. That's it:
A plan.
My idea, so fresh, so novel and inspired, is basically to have a plan.
Gosh.
I am brilliant.
Moving on...
Our first stop,
everyone's first stop when visiting the San Diego Zoo, is to see the
giant pink chickens the
flamingo pool.
There were baby flamingos!
I have been coming to the San Diego Zoo for over forty years. When we were kids admission was free, so the zoo was like our version of summer camp, or daycare... a safe, affordable, educational, entertaining place to spend the day. I loved it. In recent years they have made dramatic changes, so while I used to know every path and ficus, nowadays there are new discoveries to make, and new paths to take.
And in forty years, I don't recall ever seeing those funny, gray, baby flamingos.
The zoo, and especially the
Wild Animal Park, get a lot of feathered freeloaders, like these ducks. It was here at the zoo that I decided that if I should return to the world, that hopefully it would be as a San Diego Zoo duck. I believe this was less of a philosophical discussion, than just my attraction to safe harbors and free food.
From the flamingo pool, we turned left and made our way to the reptiles and amphibians. We saw snakes, lizards, skinks, dragons, crocs, frogs, and tortoises.
This is a
big zoo. We know well enough not to try and see
everything. But I must say, we did see quite a bit, which was impressive since we walked the whole distance... Maria has strong legs and good stamina.
All those reptiles and amphibians were in the area of the zoo called
"Discovery Outpost.
Next we hiked all of the "The Lost Forest," which is where we saw this
fishing cat. Handsome fellow.
We saw a
tiger too, and bonobo, tapir, monkeys,
okapi. This was a
down hill journey, all the way to the hippos!
Can you guess?
Yes, we were
this close.
She has large pores.
Reminds me of those awful magnifying "beauty" mirrors. Every time I look in one of those I think:
TMI!!
Happy
Hippo, taking her beauty nap, and Maria enjoying the sight.
Max was taking pleasure in reading the map, figuring out where to go next. And from the bottom of the zoo, Max decided we needed to make our way to the Polar Bears... definitely in a
up direction. And so, we hoofed our way to "Polar Rim."
We were fortunate to see animals active, or close up. The
polar bears were out. It would have been fun to see them swimming, but this is why it's good to visit regularly, because there is always something new to see.
Always something
beautiful to see, like polar bears, and the
200 foot tall California tower in
Balboa Park.
Alex finds beauty in design and function. The new care facilities for the elephants is impressive. "Elephant Odyssey" is the newest improvement at the San Diego Zoo.
Pull back a bit and you can see the care facility is just one component of a much larger new home for the African and Asian
pachyderms
I love the elephants.
I love the
meerkats.
I love the
wombats. But they were sleeping.
We left "Africa Rocks," and we were cruising through the "Outback."
No. Not that Outback. Lucky Laura!
So far, this is as close as I have come to Australia. We saw the wallabies, and the sleeping wombats, and next came the koalas. And honestly most days the
koalas are hardly worth bothering with, because they are drowsy and shy. I have seen them on good days, when you can see their sleeping faces, or watch them slowly chew a leaf.
But this! This is a first.
Koala on the move!
Not exactly swinging or dashing, but definitely mobile. I am
still amazed.
So cute... just remember those
crazy sharp claws!
The end?
I guess so.
"Night Time Zoo" started yesterday. We should add that to our "
brilliant plan."
