Day 4: Jacob's trip: San Diego Zoo, day 1

Monday, June 3, 2019

We thought we were going to have to walk around in the mist, and we did for a little while. But eventually the clouds cleared and we had sunshine in which to enjoy our day with the animals.

This was at breakfast. There is a giant metal bird in the background. Jacob is eating his daily bagel.

We have arrived. Parking is free!

We were first greeted by these memorials to two of their gorillas. 

Our first stop was the reptile house.

A quite large lizard. Not sure what kind.

Sssssssss.

This snake reminded me of Kaa in The Jungle Book.

They really did look like rubber!

This is Aldo. He prefers to eat alone.

Chomp, chomp!

This skink responded to Jacob's hand, following it as he moved it.

He used his navigator skills to determine our path. He did a pretty good job.

He was trying to get monkeys to respond.

There's a story behind this photo. A family of four was taking their picture first. After they finished, 3 of the four jumped off, but a boy (probably around Jacob's age) sat on the hippo's head and was playing on his phone. He never noticed that Jacob was patiently waiting for him to leave. Finally the dad yelled for him to come along, so Jacob got his photo taken (finally). We saw the kid a few times afterwards, always on his phone. 

A good lunch. He had pizza among the treetops. We even found ranch dressing!

We headed toward the "North" and Jacob saw an ice cave (no, it wasn't real).

Requested a photo of this.

Up through the ice.

Sharing the spotlight with some strange girl.

Just hanging out at the pool.

Come on in, the water's fine!

We came all this way to see ... flamingos?

Baby chick .. still using 2 legs.

We have NO IDEA what kind of bird this is.

One of the most entertaining part of the zoo is the monkey trail. 

I don't remember this type of monkey, but they were all huddled together.

There were several aviaries in the zoo, depending on the geographic area.

Got a glimpse of a tiger.

Okapi. 

Otis, the hippo.

He's just a couple months older than Jeff.

Strangely enough, he was not interested in shopping.

They were actually eating plants! And they are a lot bigger than I thought.

We were bitterly disappointed that we didn't see giant pandas. I had just read where they were gifted two from China and were among the few zoos certified to take care of giant pandas.

This was a red panda we found hanging in the tree.

Crossed this bridge a couple times. You can take an elevator up to it (or down from it).

Waiting for Boppa who's in the restroom.

We took the Sky safari back to the front to save our poor aching feet.

This is the cafe at which we ate lunch.

The entrance ... as we exited.

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