San Diego Zoo

 

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