The past two weeks have meant one activity after another with my family—while maneuvering around tons of freelance writing work, of course.
On Tuesday, we finally
visited a place I had only been to once before as a very young child: The San
Diego Zoo. Located near Balboa Park in San Diego, this zoo was the type of
place to make you forget about the multiple highways just a few miles away on
either side. Hedges trimmed into elephant shapes greeted us a the front
entrance, and just inside the gates we saw gorilla head busts and a pond where
several flamingoes squawked away as visitors snapped photos of them. I’ll also
admit, there were no shortage of (rather expensive) restaurants and gift shops
shattered throughout the park—but the exhibits stood out more than this
merchandizing.
We hopped onto a
double-decker tour bus that was supposed to work its way around 75% of the
park, but I shouldn’t have sat on the left-hand side. Most of the good views
happened on the right-hand side instead. But even this was okay. It was nice to
get a feel for the park’s scope, and to follow along on the handy map given to
everyone at the entryway.
They had all the big cats,
polar bears, artic foxes, and elephants—all the usual things you would expect
to see at a zoo. Yet they did have a program there that stood out: The Animal
Ambassadors Program. They would pair two different animals in one habitant (in
one case a cheetah and a dog), and they would keep each other company. Besides
the animals, they also had an amble amount of lush plants and trees. At points,
you could feel as if you were strolling through a rainforest.
There were other
attractions to see, and from the beginning I had my heart set on taking the
aerial tram (“Skyfari”) over the park. I should mention that even then, when I
reached the ride and saw just how high it went—I got a bit nervous. But I
shouldn’t have worried. Every part of that journey was smooth and calming—like
riding on a ski lift or tram.
They also had a 4-D
theater, showing an abridged version of the third Ice Age movie: Dawn of the
Dinosaurs. This was fun too, though we had to pay $6 additional dollars per
person to see it. The theater itself was a small cozy place. We watched the
feature with 3-D glasses, got sprayed by scented water from behind, and had all
matter of soup bubbles (to mimic snow) released throughout the room.
But all things have to
come to an end, and so it was with our day there. Hopefully, it won’t be too
long until we’re able to come back for a visit. :D
