California Dreamin': San Diego Zoo

On August 16th, Kevin and I met up with Aunt Dorothy and Uncle Frank to explore the San Diego Zoo. This was something I wanted to make sure and see before leaving California. and it didn't disappoint! The grounds and exhibits were beautiful and the company was great.

Photo from the Skyride

We decided to take a short bus tour around the grounds because the zoo is so big. This helped decide where we wanted to go and allowed us to see some animals from a unique vantage point overhead. One of my immediate observations was that this didn't seem like a typical zoo. The landscaping was so lush and beautiful and many of the animal exhibits were tucked away. It was very serene. Sometimes you forgot you were in a zoo!

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I always enjoy seeing the bears at the zoo because they are so beautiful and so dangerous to actually see in the wild. It gives you a close-up view you could never have otherwise. My absolute favorite is the polar bear. I don't know how they recreated the arctic in San Diego, but the bears were very playful and seemed happy to be there!

Polar Bear Clip

I am also very fascinated with the grizzly bears. As much as I would love to see these bears in the wild (not!), I know this is my only chance to see them up close and escape with my life. Don't you just love those nails?!

They had quite a group of koala bears. Many of them were very shy with their backs to us. This one was too hungry to care!

The funniest thing had to be this sloth bear. He was either crazy or dancing to an iPod we couldn't see!

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The hippo wasn't scaring this duck one bit.

Cool shot of the flamingo taking a drink.

Every zoo has elephants, but this exhibit was beautiful. There were many of these "utilitrees" that provided the elephants with challenging ways to get their food. It helped with their creativity and to keep their minds sharp. There was a huge open building dedicated to bathing the elephants. It was incredible and very impressive!