Southern California January 2017 - Day 2: San Diego Zoo

Ellie at the San Diego Zoo

We woke up Sunday morning and everything was all wet outside.  It was cloudy and sprinkling outside.  We checked the weather and the chance of rain was higher in Anaheim and LA than it was in San Diego.  The radar looked like the rain had all stayed north of San Diego and it was mostly dry.  We decided to take a chance and drive to San Diego for the day. We wanted to go to the zoo, so that was what we did.  We got ready and when Ellie was ready, she hopped into the stroller and told us she was ready.  We went down to the lobby and ate breakfast.  Overall they had a pretty good breakfast.  We ate there almost every morning.  They always had cereal, waffles, toast and bagels and then there were eggs and some type of meat and a side of potatoes.  It was pretty good for a complementary hotel breakfast.

Ellie was ready o go!

After breakfast, I went and got the car and we loaded up.  We headed to I-5 from Katella and went south.  We stayed on the 5 all the way to San Diego.  It was pretty cloudy all the way with an occasional sprinkle.  I had heard it was a pretty drive, and maybe it was the weather, but I didn't think it was all that exciting.  We drove through some nice beach towns and it was cool to drive by Camp Pendleton.  We actually saw some military helicopters flying over Camp Pendleton.

We made it to San Diego in a little over an hour and a half.  We drove passed SeaWorld and through part of Downtown and then in to Balboa Park to the zoo.  We found a place to park and when we got out of the car, it was quite chilly and windy.  There was no rain though, that was a bonus.  We all bundled up and headed to the zoo.  On the way in we actually went the wrong way because there really isn't a lot of signage and there weren't a lot of people going to the zoo.  We got to the entrance, bought tickets and walked in.  We looked over the map and devised a plan.  Ellie wanted to see the pandas, lions and tigers so they were the priority.  We also didn't know how long we would be there because of the weather.  We decided to go to the pandas and then around through the Polar Bears and back through the African animals.  Then if we had more time we would go to other areas.

Gloomy entrance to the Zoo

Our Zoo tickets

Our first stop was Pandas.  As we walked through this zoo we found it is very hilly.  The pandas were down a steep hill that you had to go passed the pandas to the entrance of the exhibit and then back up the hill to see them.  It was a pretty cool exhibit.  We saw some other bears and Asian animals and then the pandas.  There was one out and he was eating bamboo.  There was a zookeeper talking about him when we got there and said cut through bamboo similar to how a chipper cuts up small trees.  It was pretty impressive.

PANDA WATCH!

After seeing the panda, we moved on looking for tigers or lions.  I found a path that said it went to the tigers so we went that way.  There was a family of monkeys and African otters.  Then we found hippos.  After the hippos were the tigers.  The tigers were on a hillside and they were really close and cool to see.  They were pretty active.  It might have been lunch time.  Then we saw a sign for gorillas.  This threw up a red flag to Lisa, our navigator.  When we looked through the map, we found that this path had lead us to the complete opposite side of the zoo.  Darn.  We started looking for the gorillas because they were supposed to be close.  We kept looking and then made it to a restaurant that was 3 or 4 stories.  We were pretty frustrated at this point.  The path lead us to the restaurant and seemed to stop.  We went to the top of the restaurant and there was a smaller cafe.  We also found that just passed the cafe was the gorillas.  Thank goodness.  We decided to stop, reset and have lunch.  It was pretty tasty.  Ellie had pizza that came with several kids snack in a zoo bag with a zoo cup.  Lisa and I split a meatball sandwich and a large coke, which we could get $1 refills (Sweet!!).  We all ate well.  It ended up being a good stop.

Ellie and momma looking at hippos

Here kitty, kitty.

We finished up and went to see the gorillas.  They were really active. There was a momma walking with and carrying her baby, which was really cute.  Then there was a silverback male that charged another one and sat right in front of him.  We watched the silverback and realized he was pooping right in front of us.  It was pretty yucky (and funny).  After the gorillas we saw some more monkeys and then the flamingos.  These were the brightest colored flamingos I've every seen.  They were bright orange.  It was crazy.  After the flamingos, we made it back to the front of the zoo.  Our new plan was to walk back through the African animals, back to the polar bears and then take the sky tram back to the front to see the penguins.

This guy meant business (he even did his business)

Momma gorilla and her baby

Getting a ride from momma

Ellie and daddy going into the monkey area

The brightest colored Flamingos ever.
Must be some really orange colored shrimp

We headed to the African area.  This was pretty cool too.  We saw a big area that had elephants and then there was a cage that had a jaguar on one side and 2 lions on the other.  The jaguar was sitting right outside the door.  He was waiting to be fed.  It was beautiful.  His coat was almost metallic.  The lions were cool too.  The male was up on a platform and the female was prowling around the outside.  She was very active.  It was cool to see.  She even pawed and growled at something.  Kind of spooky actually.  We saw some sloths, and then headed to the Arctic area. There were some other animals on the way, but we made it to the Polar Bears.  They were all sleeping.  Darn.  We found the sky tram, and it was closed due to high winds.

Going to see the elephants

Look elephants.  The elephant gates looked like Jurassic Park.

Just lunging on this throne

This girl was feisty.  ROAR!

Probably the prettiest animal we saw.  (Jaguar)

We started to walk back to the front and the pandas were on the way.  Before we got back to the pandas, we stopped in a gift shop and Ellie wanted to "take the pandas to her home".  That was her line for the week to say she wanted something.  We left the gift shop and right before the pandas there was a leopard area.  Somehow we missed it before.  It was really cool.  They had 2 of my favorite animals:  the snow leopard and the Amur leopard.  There were at least 2 of each and they each had their own cage with rocks and trees to walk on.  There were also catwalks (I know, get it), that connected the pens, but were blocked. One of theAmur leopards was walked to and from the catwalk.  It was really cool to see.  The snow leopards were sleeping, but I always like seeing them.

"I want at my house" - Ellie

Leopard catwalk.  So cool.

Amur leopard walking around.

Snow leopard sleeping on his rock.

Check out the snow leopard's tail.  It is crazy.

Through the park,there was quite a bit of construction.  There was a lot of new areas being add.  We also went to find the penguins.  They were not easy to find.  They were near the front, but there were no signs.  Probably because it was the smallest area I have ever seen for penguins.  There was a sign that said they are building a new penguin habitat, but the current one was very small.

We stopped at the gift shop on the way out and got a couple of things. We got a lot more out of the zoo than we thought we would.  It was around 5:00 so we got almost 6 hours at the zoo.  As we walked out of the gift shop, it started raining.  We made it out to the car and headed back to Anaheim.

"I want this at my home" - Ellie

It was a gross drive home.  It rained all the way, and it was a steady rain all the way.  We ran into a couple of traffic incidents.  For some reason in California, if there is a traffic problem, they shutdown the entire highway, clean it up and then reopen the highway.  It was weird.  We were getting hungry and decided to try and find an In N Out burger.  We stopped at the one in Laguna Hills.  It was a pretty nice area.  The burgers were good, but nothing to go too far out of my way to get.  I have had others that are better.  Ellie doesn't eat burgers, so we stopped at McDonald''s across the street and got her nuggets.

And........................done.

We made it back to Anaheim and by then it finally stopped raining.  We stopped at the Target on Harbor Blvd and picked up a few items for the week.  Then we drove to Downtown Disney.  On Sunday, it was National Polka Dot Day so Downtown Disney had some Minnie inspired items.  We decided to go check it out.  When we got there, a bunch of stuff was closed and others had towels and mops out.  It looked like there had been a huge flood.  In actuality, there had been.  While we were gone, the LA area had record rains and Disneyland actually closed early due to flooding issues.  It was kinda crazy.  We missed out on the Minnie inspired items, but we still got a couple of Sprinkles cupcakes to take to the room.

My first experience with Sprinkles cupcakes.  Pretty delicious.

After that, we walked to the Disneyland Hotel, just to check it out.  I had heard you could get Dole Whips there.  When we got there they were closed.  Dole Whips are at the coffee shop until 4:00pm.  We walked through the gift shops (Ellie got a princess pen) and then got in the car and went back to the hotel.  Another full day.

Mickey's Sorcerer hat at the Disneyland Hotel.  The lights sparkled.

Small World art in the Disneyland Hotel lobby.

Tomorrow, the Aquarium of the Pacific.