To the Zoo

We have been to the San Diego Zoo several times.  Once when Karen first moved to California in 1985 or 86 and again when she got married.  Then  when she and Michael moved to San Diego and we would come out for a visit, we always asked to go to either the Zoo or the Wild Animal Park.  We even became members about 4 years ago because one of the perks was guest passes and we were able to use those for one of the grandkids.  So, now that we live here, I decided that I wanted to become a member again.  There are two levels and I chose the more expensive because it obviously had more perks.  It was $149 for the two of us for a year and I figured we would more than get our money's worth from it.  So today we headed off to the zoo.

These were the lines to get day only tickets.  Luckily the line for memberships was much shorter.

So, we opted to get the Diamond Club membership.  When we got to the window, the gal asked if we had been members before and I said that yes we had quite a few years ago and that all of the information was different now.  She found us on the computer anyway and said that since we had been members, we would get $30 off of the $149 making it $119 for the year.  Yee Haw!! Especially since two regular tickets would have cost $84 just for the one day.

 

The zoo is really a beautiful setting.  This was a fountain leading into the children's area.

Everytime I see Naked Mole-rats, I think of my granddaughter.  When she was really little, I believe her soccer team took on the name of the Naked Mole-rats. 

 

I loved the lush foliage as much as I did the animals.

 Don't think I would want to be this guy's handler!

 

Interesting couple here. 

 

 Yup, you guessed it!

Mexican Giant Tree Frog--a bit different than the tree frogs we had on Sanibel!

Galapagos Tortoises-the gentle giants.

 

 

African Spur Thigh Tortoises.  We had a couple of these come in to CROW.  They were much smaller but will grow to this size.  

 I love the Flamingos. So pretty.

Like Mother, like daughter. 

 \

The little guy down at the bottom was about a week or two old.  Such a cutie!

 Iron work over the walkway leading to the monkeys.

One of the monkeys I spotted. LOL. 

This poor guy lost his tail.

I thought this sign was kind of funny.

These three were sitting with their backs to the audience.  It does look like it is a one way mirror though and they can't see the people who are all crammed around the windows.

Yeah, we have to walk down there--and what goes down must go back up!

 

We actually found a very quiet stretch of the walkway.  

Why do people do this???

 

Except for the Flamingo I would have thought I was back on Sanibel.

 

Overheard while I was taking this picture. "Zebra butts are really pretty". 

This area was new since we were here last.  Really well done!

 

 

Loved this face!

My husband has had a lifelong case of acrophobia--fear of heights.  I asked if he wanted to go on this and he said "Sure".  He even looked over the edge and looked straight down at the ground.  Nothing he could ever do in the past.  I guess memory loss has it's good side too. :)

 

 

About 10 minutes after we got off, I looked up and noticed that the cars were at a dead standstill!  This was the one thing I thought of when we were on it.  Thank goodness it didn't happen while we were up there.

 This was the only elephant we saw today.

We only saw about half of the zoo today--if that.  But hey, we can go back anytime we want now.  Even with traffic, it was only a 25 minute drive from our house to the best zoo in the world.