Day 4 – No Butts, Animal Butts That Is

Today we basically spent all day at the zoo, since San Diego Zoo is very large.  We got up around 7:00 AM and had breakfast at the hotel breakfast buffet.  They had build your own breakfast burrito. I didn’t make a burrito, just had some eggs and a muffin.  

After breakfast we headed to the zoo, which was 15 minutes away.  I did argue with the GPS slightly as it wanted to put me on the freeway for half mile, when I could just go through the city streets and not deal with rush hour traffic.  I convinced it to take the city street route.   We got to the zoo right when it opened at 9:00AM and didn’t leave till almost 3:00PM.  Yes, the zoo is that big.   We started in the Wildlife Explorers Base Camp which had some invertebrates, red pandas, owls, fennec foxes, and hummingbirds. We started here because the aerial tram station is there and it takes you to the top of the zoo, so we could work our way down the hill instead of up.  The aerial tram didn’t open till 10:00 AM so we had plenty of time in the Wildlife Explorers Base Camp area.  (See Map to follow along and see how much we walked.)

The aerial tram drops you off in the Norther Frontier area where you can see the polar bears and then start making your way down the elephant odyssey trail past lions, tigers, rhinos, and elephants to the bottom of the zoo.  Once at the bottom we did the Outback and Urban Jungle section which had kolas, zebras, and giraffes. We ate lunch at Sydney’s Grill inside the zoo.  Then caught the zoo bus back to the top to work our way down the hippo and tiger trail. I bet you can guess what is along those trails.  Once we reached the bottom again, we had to back track slightly to see the sun bear, grizzly bear, and sloth bear, and penguins coming down Africa Rocks trail to see the lemurs and fossa, and cheetahs.  From there we called it a day and headed to the gift shop and exit.

The zoo has changed a lot since I was last there almost 15 years ago. It has a lot more shade, more transportation options, and more animals.  The zoo also now sells beer, wine, and frozen margarita. I completely understand the drink, because I think some of those parents deserve an adult beverage.  The one thing included in your ticket price, which we did not do, was the double decker bus tour of the zoo which lasts about 45 minutes and drives you around to give you the highlights and talks about conservation efforts.   

Once we were back at the hotel we relaxed for a bit before heading out to grab a light dinner we ate at the Carnitas Snack Shack and got tacos.   

Tomorrow, we have most of the day as our flight home is a red eye.  We will probably head over to Balboa Park for a bit then go over to see the USS Midway.