San Diego Zoo, the Beach, & Ice Cream

On Thursday we packed Blip up and headed for the San Diego Zoo.  We bought passes at Costco that let us get into Sea World, the Zoo, and the Safari Park.  Our neighbors, Lori & Kevin, went to the Safari Park last Summer with Wyatt.  They told us not to waste our time, and I'm so glad they did.  Even the zoo was a little much for all of us.  We somehow chose the hottest day ever to spend walking miles and miles at the zoo.  I hadn't been there since Kyle was alive (April 2000, I think), but I don't care if we ever go back.  It's a beautiful place, but none of the animals were out.  They were open until 9pm, and they say most of the animals are active at night…so next time we decided (if there is a next time) we would go at dinner time and stay until closing…instead of going at the hottest part of the day.

We saw quite a bit, and I'm sure it would be more fun if Blip was a little bit older, but not even the elephants were out.  There is a HUGE new elephant exhibit, but we only saw the backside of one elephant.  LAME. We specifically made our way down "monkey trail" on our way out, but I don't think we saw one monkey. We did see one gorilla's head, but we don't even know if it was real…or attached to a pole.  Again…the grounds are beautiful.  In the shade the weather was perfect.  Waiting to see the Pandas was a little ridiculous, but they were fun to see.  There was a mom with her almost one year old baby.  

We learned that when the bear cub is about 17 months old the mom pretty much kicks her cub out…because the cub becomes a "threat" to her food.  Pandas are only together when mating and for the first 17 months after giving birth.  Other than that, Pandas keep a 3-7 mile buffer zone from other pandas.  Gestation is only 50 days!!  And the baby is born the size of a stick of butter.  Sign me up!!  I could do that blind-folded!!  50 days…are you kidding me!?  After nearly nine full months (so really 10 months) of modified bed rest, and the discomfort of giant ovaries…I will take the 50 days and a baby you only need to dilate to a 5 (if that) to safely deliver a healthy baby/stick of butter. How did panda bears get that deal?  We also learned that there are only 14 pandas in the USA.  Two of the 14 were born last week at the zoo in Atlanta…twin panda bears.  I thought that was pretty dang cool.  Hopefully it's not a sign of twins to come. Yikes!

We left the zoo and headed back to the beach house for some beach time.  We got more park time and ice cream, too.