San Diego Zoo

Pictures.  Guided tour bus. I film the bus tour to glean facts in review. I’m low on all my batteries, so I am a little upset, but not terribly. After tour, I head to tiger river, don’t see any tigers and continue exploring. 10:30 hits and I head back to the entrance and Wegeforth Bowl for the first show (11 am). Sea lions and wolves…cool. Then I think about taking the skyway to get to the 12 pm show across the park. Lines too long and I don’t have enough time, so I walk through Fern Canyon to get there. I arrive 15 minutes early and enjoy my peanut butter and bosenberry jelly sandwiches which I made myself (I’m an adult! I made my own lunch!). Snope-ing myths about rare animals…interesting. I take the back way out of the amphitheatre and end up at the Giraffe exhibit. I meander through the Horn and Hoof Mesa to the other skyway entrance and stand in line. I’m absolutely fascinated by the bucket system as I haven’t seen them in the context of being an adult. The mechanics of it made me very happy: it’s just like the San Francisco cable cars! So at the other end of the skyway I head to the Reptile House…not very interesting…full of lots of noise…I think the locals just got out of school or something and stopped by…one snake only started being noted for it’s poison after the logging companies of New Guinea expanded their program. After circling the Reptile Mesa (crazy crocodiles…look like statues) I head to the new Monkey Trails exhibit. Nice…but I’m pissed at the mandrill…Rafiki avoided my camera like the plague. I wander through the exhibit, crossing over (again) to Tiger River and Ituri Forest before going to the Giant Panda Research Station. Two panda’s on display…long line…very popular. Couldn’t get George Carlin out of my head. “The two panda’s at the zoo. Do you care if they f**k? I don’t.” After that I make the big trek uphill to the Birds of Prey and Polar Plunge exhibit. It’s getting later and later and the animals are getting lazier and lazier. I head to the nearest express tram spot and ride through the Horn and Hoof Mesa to the top of Cat Canyon. Walking down Cat Canyon and back up Bear Canyon, I circle the Elephant Mesa, visit the Koala’s and finish the day with another guided tour (very good information, but I had no battery to film it…damn!). Then a quick gift shop round (book and shot glass) and I’m done for the day. Thought about stopping by Sea World, but by the time I got to Sea World Drive, it was 5:15 and wouldn’t have been worth it. Oh well. Tomorrow: the Wild Animal Park!

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