Girl's Trip 2015: San Diego, San Diego Zoo

Saturday, we went to the zoo. Unlike Sea World, it was busy and crowded the minute we got there, which was right at opening. 

The first thing we did was take the bus tour. It goes through most of the zoo, so we were able to see most of the animals from it. I took pictures on my phone and with my camera, so they might be out of order. 

Zebra.

Camel.

Gazelles of different varieties.

Kangaroo.

Lions

California Condor Birds

This bird was dragging a dead bush all over, like he was trying to get extra attention.

At both Sea World and the Zoo, there were flamingos everywhere. It made me wonder if they are easy birds to care for and therefore, they get used to fill in a lot of small spaces.

Elephants

Zebra and a donkey. Our tour guide said they were best friends. But then the zebra bit the donkey so he could push him away from the food and eat it himself.

Jaguars. The mom was hiding in the grass, but the baby was up on a platform. 

Secretary Bird.

Koala's. Our bus didn't stop here, I wish we could have seen them more, but it was too hot to walk back and look at them later.

Giraffe's. They were another thing I might have walked back to see, if it hadn't of been so hot. They sell a limited amount of tickets and you can feed them a biscuit. I wanted to try it, but I didn't want to walk that far to learn they were out of tickets. And judging by how busy the zoo was, I'm sure they sold out.

This guy is the tallest giraffe. But they had just put in new dirt, and he was too busy enjoying it to stand up and show us how tall he was.

After the bus ride, we went to ride the Skyfari Aerial Tram before the line got too long.

I'm actually scared of heights, so I didn't look down much. The one time I did, we were over the gorilla's, so I held my camera out and took a picture.

River Otters.

We saw the polar bears as part of the bus tour, but we wanted to go back and watch them for a while.

This guy was having a blast putting on a show for everyone. He would back float out. When he'd hit the glass, he'd spin around and push himself off the glass and glide back to the land. He did this for several minutes.

When he was done, he got out and just walked around.

This was the largest polar bear. He was just chillin' on this rock by the glass.

The 3rd polar bear was enjoying some carrots.

As we left the polar bear exhibit, we found this duck walking with the crowd. During the bus tour, they mentioned that a lot of different birds aren't actually part of the zoo. They are natives that fly in and spend the day. 

I'm not sure if this peacock was part of the zoo, or one of the visitors, but it was pretty cool. We were walking from one exhibit to another, when it suddenly walked right between us.

Momma hippo and her baby.

Leopard

Snow Leopard.

Takin.

Turtles.

Tigers were another one we saw on the bus tour, but decided to walk back to. They were doing what all cats do best, napping.

We were most excited to see the Giant Panda's. There are only 4 zoos in the U.S. that have Giant Pandas. I didn't know that when I saw them at the Zoo Atlanta last year, so I feel pretty special that I have now seen them twice. We had to wait in a long line to see them, but it was worth it.

It was one of the panda's 3rd birthday. This was a picture of the birthday spoils.

 

He was chilling out while eating bamboo.

The other panda was taking a nap.

 

For Preston and Tyler.

When I saw the black shirt, I had to get one for Vanessa. Later, I found matching orange shirts for the boys.

Of course, I had to buy one for myself also. Along with a cup and magnet.

 

We even wore our matching shirts this weekend.

The Zoo was fun, but if I went back, I would go during a cooler part of the year. The heat really was too much for us.