Today was our first full day in San Diego… well, technically Escondido, where the house is that we’re staying. It belongs to my mom’s friend, and it’s beautiful! It has wonderful views from the back porch deck and a little spa/hot tub in the front (which I haven’t used yet, but plan on doing so tomorrow!).
This morning after waking up, we lazed around the house. I got to watch last week’s Project Runway (for which I WILL do a post but not until I get back from the trip, at which point I will recap all the episodes that were on while I was away). I read a whole book this morning, which is something I always appreciate doing.
I picked this orange myself from the tree that’s growing in the yard.
This is Cecil, the dog, out on the deck. Every time I came outside, he popped his head over from his chair to see who was coming.
The restful morning was much appreciated, and I sat out in the sun trying to even out my tan, since I still haven’t quite evened out from my sunburn (from JUNE!!). In the afternoon, when it was a bit cooler, we headed to the San Diego Zoo, something I was looking forward to since the trip began.
The zoo was awesome! We went on the discovery tour, which was a private tour around the zoo in a golf cart. We got to see pretty much everything, mostly away from the crowds. The animals were adorable; they were little actors, which is rare for zoos. The tour guide thought this had to do with the cooler weather, and the animals wanting to be outside. But we got to see tigers and elephants and the pandas.
Here are some highlights:
This is a hippo mother with her baby (you can see the baby’s little feet behind her in the water).
This is a red panda, which is not a bear but actually closely related to a raccoon.
The pandas are AWESOME! This is the son of two of the other pandas. The mom panda was not out, because she just had a new baby (17 days ago). We were able to see the baby on the live video, which you can actually watch at the zoo’s website. It was so tiny and cute, and watching the mama panda bear with the cub was really amazing.
Giraffes – two picture ’cause I love them.
I also love elephants.
These were two jaguar babies and they were the cutest things I’ve ever seen. They’re sneaking up on their mom here.
And this polar bear was just lounging.
I THINK this was a gazelle, and it was so funny the way it stood on it’s hind legs to get food.
And now it’s time to get to bed early because even though it was a lazy day, it was a sleepy day and I’m tired. Tomorrow – the beach!
