Zoo Day

What a great way to celebrate a birthday!  First, I had so many good wishes from an incredible wealth of friends!  You all made my day special before I even left the Castle.  Thank you.

The plan was to go to the San Diego Zoo, where Deb and Ron would catch up with us when Deb finished her work day early.  After taking care of a couple of errands, we got to the zoo around 11:00.  We were hungry by then, so our first stop was to get a snack.  I wanted to see the baby Panda, Yun Zi. This baby Panda is just 5 months old and has only been on view at the zoo since Jan. 7.  When we got to Panda Canyon, I was disappointed at reading the viewing hours, it appeared we missed it by about 15 minutes.  But then, someone came out and said they were still allowing people through, so we went right in – no line!

What a treat to see mom and baby playing in their yard:

Our next stop was the “other” Pandas:

By this time, Deb and Ron had joined us, and we continued on with our zoo experience.  There are so many interesting animals here!  Deb is quite a zoo fan, she has an annual membership, so she’s very familiar with the zoo’s layout and offerings.  We let her guide us to the various exhibits, all the time visiting and watching the animals.

Between Jim and I, we took hundreds of pictures!  Here are a few of my favorites:

Probably the closest we’ll be to having a pink flamingo in our front yard:

I love meerkats!  I still haven’t forgiven Animal Planet for discontinuing their series, “Meerkat Manor”:

See the dirt the elephant is flinging on her back?  Just after I took this picture, she picked up another trunk-ful of dirt and flung it – at me!

I spent several years in my work life as a secretary – so this picture is in honor of those years – a Secretary Bird:

Just because!

If you know how Jim feels about snakes, you should be very proud of him for not only walking all through the snake house, but actually taking pictures! This rare albino boa constrictor had to be at least 15 feet long!

As we were getting ready to wrap up our zoo day, we were fortunate to witness the afternoon flight of the macaws.  A large “crate” with a dozen of these colorful birds is raised on a pole.  The doors are opened, and the macaws fly out to return to their roosting area for the night.  From the time the doors open until the birds are out of sight is only a few seconds, so I think Jim did a great job getting this shot:

After our zoo adventure, we went to dinner at Fidel’s Mexican Restaurant with Deb and Ron.  What a fabulous day!

I’ve had a couple of requests for the recipe for the S’mores Brownies, so I will post that in a separate blog!