Vacation- San Diego

I am going to split up our vacation photos into a few different posts because I took so many photos! On our 3rd day in San Diego we went to the San Diego Zoo. It had been many years (maybe about 20??) since I visited the San Diego Zoo. This zoo is awesome to simply put it. They have great displays and variety of animals. I know this zoo does a great deal to help animals outside of the zoo walls as well. We spent 6 hours in the zoo, and it was worth every minute. It took that much time to walk around and look at all of the animals. We spent some extra time to sit and watch some of the animals because they were so entertaining.

Jim and the camels

Fred and Lynne checking out the Koala bears

The elephant enclosure was enormous. There were quite a few elephants, but a lot of them were in their cages for their check ups. They opened up the elephants cages to the public could see a lot of what they were doing to them. It was interesting to watch and learn! I think they said that the oldest elephant there was around 55 years old

Elephant getting her toes done

This was a huge surprise, to walk up and see this lion laying right where people are gawking at them.

Hmmmm.... Spray range is 7-10 feet? I can't imagine what would happen if you accidentally got sprayed. I think you would smell for weeks. YUCK.

Ahhh! Watch out for flying condors!

We spent a lot of time watching this guy swim around. He kept playing with the ball while floating around. I was amazed at how graceful he was and how he could just float there. I guess it's all of his fat keeping him floating?

The polar bear sat along the glass wall looking at all of us, which made for good photos for the lucky bastards up at the front. I didn't think it would be in good taste to push the little kids out of the way, so I waited my turn :)

Look at that face! Don't ya just want to bring him home with you!?!?

Lynne and Fred with the polar bear statue

Jim and I

The Hippo exhibit

These guys didn't do much... just kind of sat there

The orangutan's were so much fun to watch! They climbed around, chased each other, and were goofy.

The orangutan clan has a new family member :)We had to wait in line to watch the panda bear. We were asked to stay quiet because the panda was sensitive. I had a little cough so Fred would tell me I was bothering the panda with each cough :) Thanks Fred. The zoo recently had one of their pandas have a baby, but it was still in isolation and wouldn't be out in the display for a few more months.

There were two cubs playing in the Sun Bear display. They chased each other around for the entire time that we watched them. There were multiple times I thought they were going to fall off of the "wood pile" but they always caught themselves, like the guy below.

Look! A new giraffe at the zoo!

This picture cracks me up every time I see it. I swear if this guy could talk he would say.. "What in the fuck are you looking at". Clearly he is from Jersey.

This is the snow leopard. There were two in this display and there were pacing back and forth (much like most of the cats). They had short legs, but they were built to pounce. He was yawning in this picture.

I wish I knew exactly what kind of cat this is... perhaps some type of Jaguar? We were so close to the display, probably less than 6 feet. Every time he would walk by us he looked at the little kid in the stroller sitting next to us. It was eerie...

This looks like a little puppy that you might find at the pound. But he is a Singing Prairie Dog. There were 3 or 4 puppies running around in the display along with the mom and dad dog. How cute is he!!?!?

We had a wonderful time at the zoo!!! Sure it took 6 hours but it was totally worth every minute. We saw so many different types of animals, many of which I haven't seen live before, some I have never even heard of!!!