Zoo Time

Saturday I went to the World Famous San Diego Zoo with my roommate, her son and daughter-in-law and their two little boys. I took my camera.

My roommate's son and grandson walking down Easy Street toward the monkeys...


We came to Gorilla Tropics first. This gorilla isn't a redhead. The red is a reflection of somebody's shirt in the glass that lets people get close-up shots. This picture was not cropped.


The baby gorilla, besides having an enormous belly, also had quite an attitude.


After the gorillas, we found the tigers. There were two, and they started out by the water, where the grass blocked some of what could have been some good photos (except for the huge yawn that I was able to capture), but then they wandered over to a better viewing area. They didn't stay long, though. After a quick walk by the glass, they climbed up the hill and disappeared.


We had a map, and we thought we were following it, but somehow we ended up back at the monkeys when we were trying to get to the polar bears to see their new digs. This picture of the Lesser Spot-nosed Guenon is the only one I'm posting that I cropped.


Since the monkeys were near the Zoo entrance and the polar bears were at the far, far reaches of the back of the Zoo, and since the boys were getting tired, we decided to come back another time for the bears (annual passes are beautiful things). Instead, we went to the kiddie play area near the petting zoo.

That route took us past the Reptile House, and what would be a trip to the San Diego Zoo without a look at the albino Burmese Python? He's been in the same corner exhibit since I was a kid. I believe, however, that this guy isn't the one I stared at when I was little. He looks a lot smaller, not as big around as he used to be. Plus, they only live about 20 or 25 years in the wild. I don't know what effect albinism has on their longevity.


And of course, the Zoo has Stuff For Sale. I took its picture, because buying stuff isn't in my budget, even if it's cute. These (and more) gourds are carved by Pablo Teodoro Hurtado Laveriano, a Peruvian artisan. I especially liked the owls he carved (not pictured here).


My roommate and I are planning to go back to the Zoo with grown-ups and do the photo safari thing. Zoos are different with kids than without. With the price of food there, though, we decided that it's best to eat an early lunch, then go to the Zoo and stay until just before dinnertime, then leave and get something to eat afterward. That will really help the cash flow not to hemorrhage.

And then when winter comes, we can go to the Wild Animal Park, because it's just plain foolish to go there in the summer. In the heat. When we could be at the Zoo where it's cooler.

Yep. Wild Animal Park. Winter. They both start with "W". Zoo. Zummer. It's meant to be.