Zoo Day in San Diego
Trip Start
Apr 19, 2012
1
4
5
Trip End
Apr 22, 2012
What I did
San Diego, California
Saturday, April 21, 2012
But first I had to get everyone up and out the hotel. This did not happen early. Laneshia wanted to sleep in and the kids didn't seem too motivated to get dressed and ready either so it wasn't until about 11:30 before we left the hotel.
We hopped on I-5 south towards San Diego and along the 40 minute trip we enjoyed viewing all the big cliff-side houses on the sides of some very hilly terrain. The highway is relatively close to the ocean so I could only imagine their views. And just as we arrived into San Diego we finally got to see the sun between some clouds. But that didn't last. As soon as I parked and before we stepped out of the car the clouds came back (and we wouldn't see the sun again until we got on the plane!)
Our first stop in San Diego was a restaurant called Kono's Surf Club Cafe - a highly recommended breakfast spot at the Pacific Beach Park on the Pacific Ocean shore. I choose this spot not only because of the positive reviews but because Laneshia stated we couldn't come to San Diego and not see a beach - so we did.
Kono's provided us a big, full plate of food (at a decent price). But just as the reviews I read stated, we had to stand in a line to order as this is a popular place. But once we ordered, the food came out quickly. Laneshia and I had a breakfast platter which neither of us finished while Aria had a breakfast sandwich (and some of my eggs) and Jadin went with a chicken sandwich. The restaurant was sort of hectic as the cafe itself was small in size and the line with people waiting to order near our table. There was a nice outdoor sitting area with a view of the ocean but it was a bit to breezy and cool for us to enjoy ourselves sitting outside.
After eating we took a short walk to an area near the beach for some pictures. There was a pedestrian walkway called Ocean Blvd. that ran between Kono's and the beach that was very busy with people walking, jogging and biking along it. This was a popular place to be. And as cool as the day was (well, at least 60 degrees is cool to me), there were people swimming and surfing in the ocean. Good for them - they can have that. We settled for just taking pictures of the scene. Then we were out of there.
On the way to the car we stopped in a small shop and loaded up on some sunglasses. Laneshia picked out a pair that made here look marvelous (like a movie star!). I got two pair and even Aria found a pair she liked. We were now ready for the sun! Too bad it never came out.
Our next stop: The Zoo. The drive from the beach to the zoo was a short drive on the highway, but the scenery was awesome. The Interstate-8 corridor was landscaped with palm trees and colorful flora all along the right-of-way providing a remarkable view and drive for a federal highway. We need that level of detail along Texas' highways.
We arrived to the zoo parking lot and wow, were there a lot of people here today. We had to park waaaaaay out (and no, I didn't make a mistake with all the "a's" in that way - we were a distance from the gate!). When we started walking from the car to the zoo entrance we couldn't even see it. All I knew was it was somewhere in the direction we started walking. Well, we got to the gate, bought our tickets and around 2pm we started our San Diego Zoo experience.
The kids enjoyed this zoo and we took advantage of the buses to see as much as we could in the short time we had. Price is very steep for a family of four to get but I wrapped my mind around it before I arrived, accepted it and enjoyed myself, too.
Our first action was to hop on a free Guided Bus Tour that gave us a good overview of the Zoo as soon as we arrived. Since the park closed at 6pm I knew we weren't going to see nearly 1/2 of this large place just by walking so the bus tour let us take in 80 percent of the park in a 35-minute trip. And Aria enjoyed that bus ride. She was probably more excited than anyone to be in a zoo and you could see the excitement in her as she drove past the various exhibits and she exclaimed: "Look at that!"
Jadin took my camera and busied himself by taking pictures of whatever he saw. I enjoyed the narration of the driver who provided some neat facts about the park but her jokes were pretty lame but in the sake of entertainment at least she tried to be funny (emphasis on the tried).
While Aria enjoyed the bus, Jadin's favorite highlight of the zoo visit was riding the Skyfari, an aerial tram that took you airborne across the park. He liked it so much that we rode it twice.
We took in a 4-D short show that was a streamlined version of the movie "Happy Feet" that featured bumping seats (that Jadin hated) and real bubbles (which Aria loved) along with 3-D imaging to make it "4-D". Was I impressed... ehh. It was OK but I wouldn't pay to see it again.
We next visited the snake house filled with the slimy things which had Laneshia saying "eewww!" every 30 seconds. Well, the next thing we knew it was well after 5pm and headed towards the zoo's closing time so we hit the zoo store for some souvenir purchases (again, conveniently located at the exit) then we made the long trek back to the car.
I mentioned that Laneshia's goal was to get back to the mall in Carlsbad so that's where we headed. Boring stuff for the kids but Laneshia was getting her shop on.
I let Laneshia do her thing while I paraded the kids to a couple of stores but I found nothing I was interested in. After about 30 minutes we decided to track Laneshia down and knew where to look first - any store that sold purses. We check Coach first: Nope - she wasn't there. Next, was Dooney & Bourke: And yep, there she was, right at the register completing her purchase. She got four bags and I believe she paid the store's rent for the month - yeowwie!$! (And to think I got grief for trying to by a cheap ticket to see the Mavericks game earlier in the week). But that's OK, she deserves to splurge every now and then.
Ok, by this time it was about 8pm and we were all hungry so it was back to the Pizza Port restaurant we gave up on last night to try some of the highly recommended pizza. The place was busy again tonight but Laneshia and the kids hunkered down for the wait and enjoyed the elbow-to-elbow crowd and loud rock-n-roll music being played while we waited. OK, no they really didn't, I'm being derisive.
We all ordered individual pizzas to go. Jadin went with a Bacon Cheeseburger Pizza while I had one called the Meet Extreme Meat pizza, filled with, you guessed it, meat.
When the pizza finally came we loaded up the car and headed for the hotel where we ate. As for the pizza... it was pretty good. It probably would of been better if we had it when it was freshly out of the oven.
It was a busy day so the kids didn't fight sleep much. Lights out.
