SAN DIEGO ZOO

Yesterday was a hard day to beat so today we had a leisurely breakfast at Brian's 24 Grill which advertizes the best pancakes in town.  They may not be the best but their menu certainly is eclectic.

















Note:  we did NOT try the pretzel pancakes.

I guess we weren't really that surprised to see SOS on the menu in this military town.



Brian's 24 Grill is in the Gaslamp District of San Diego and had some really nice old world features.



After an amazingly filling breakfast we headed for the world famous San Diego Zoo.  Upon arriving we took the 45 minute double-decker bus tour to get the lay of the land.  This didn't help as we got continuously lost and turned around at this huge zoo.  However, we did get to see some areas by bus that we wouldn't have otherwise made it to, such as the Elephant Odyssey. 



This little guy is the new kid on the block.

This zoo has at least three aviaries, which was great for us bird watchers.  We took this very steep moving staircase to reach one of them.

(

(I wanted to take the sky train but we never did get around to it.)



I loved being close to many of the birds and I didn't feel like it was cheating at all to see them up close on the feeders.




These red eyed guys are actually starlings.  They were everywhere and NOISY.








We went on the Fern Trail and walked and walked and ended up in another aviary.   This bird is as baby blue as this picture looks.






 Here's a beauty















 















and how about this dude?

 















and a flightless Bird of Paradise.

 

We did take time out to see some other animals!  We walked and we walked.  We met other people along the way who were just as confused by the map as we were.

It was mid afternoon and siesta time.

















One of the many cool things about this zoo is that they try to grow most of the food they feed the animals so they can be self-sustaining.  Here, for example, are bananas for the chimp population.

And although this Hydrangea is not a food plant it was exotic and lovely.

Jim has always wanted to see the Bonobos so we looked on our map for the Monkey Trail.  We walked and we walked and ended up in another aviary, where we saw these really cute ground runners,

 

and some colorful friends from South America:
































































We took the Fern Trail to the Monkey Trail.  We saw gorillas.  We took the Hippo Trail to the Monkey Trail which led to the Tiger Trail.  We saw orangutans.  We took the Monkey Trail which led back to the aviary, but on a different level.  We saw the chimps.  We walked and walked.  We were getting desperate as it was getting later and later, we were getting more and more tired.  We couldn't find the Bonobos, we kept coming back to the same areas and we couldn't see which way was out.  We took yet another Monkey Trail and came around the corner to...the Bonobos at last!  They were playing and grooming.

When this young female saw us she come over, made eye contact and posed for us, making a real personal connection.






















This made our day and suddenly the sore feet were worth it!  However, we still didn't know where we were or how to get out and it was getting toward dusk.  I felt like we were in the middle of a maze.  We walked and walked and turned a corner and suddenly FLAMINGOS!




I knew we had made it because the flamingos are at the entrance (and exit) to the zoo.

Another Grand Day Out!  Although we're sorry to have to leave in the morning now we know we need to come back to San Diego again.  Thanks to our new direct Alaska flight from Santa Rosa, San Diego is a mere 2 hours away.

Audrey