Mike was in his conference all day Wednesday, so I decided to go to the zoo. San Diego Zoo is a great zoo - lots of things to see, a huge variety of animals, and it was a gorgeous sunny day. I checked my fitness band and I walked 7 miles that day, just at the zoo!
Fo those if you who don't like zoos or keeping animals in captivity, I understand your feelings. Most zoos have breeding programs or other animal conservation programs so I believe they have a place in our society, especially since so many people would never be able to see these animals in the wild.
Our grandkids love going to zoos and so I go to our local zoos fairly often, but the type of animals to see is fairly small and neither zoo has elephants. I have very fond memories of feeding peanuts to the elephants at our local zoo when was a child, so the first exhibit I headed for was Africa Rocks. The elephants have a nice area, about 3-4 acres in size with its own lake. Two Asian elephants and two African elephants live here.
The zoo has had an agreement with China for over 20 years to receive Chinese Panda Bears and establish a breeding program that has resulted in several baby Pandas. The breeding program is coming to an end so I wanted to be sure to see the Pandas as I hadn't seen them in person before. I got a good look from the bridge that goes above the Panda exhibit. That was a good thing because when I made it to their enclosure later that day, the bear was sleeping and couldn't be seen.
I saw lots of other animals - lion, tigers and bears, oh my! 😉 Sorry, couldn't resist that. I also saw gorillas, orangutans, leopards, meerkats, giraffes, hippo, eagles, otters, penguins, you name it and SD zoo probably has it. They also have 3 walk-through aviaries where you can see the birds close-up. I had a toucan flying back and forth over my head in one of the aviaries, they're so colorful and pretty up close like that. I realized at the end of the day that I had forgotten the reptile house so I'll have to see that another time. By then I was sunburned and a little tired so I hit the gift shop for a little present for the grandkids and then walked back to the bus stop.
Oh! That's something else I should add, it was super easy to get to the zoo via public transportation and San Diego Metro Transit has a really good transit app for smartphones that I found very easy to use. An all-day transit pass (good on buses and trams) is only $5. I was able to catch the bus just one block from my hotel and didn't even have to change buses. This is a big deal for me as we live in a rural area and no public transit options, so I rarely use public transportation and I find it a little nerve-wracking to make sure I'm actually going where I think I'm going when I do use it.
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