Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Racecation Day 3: San Diego Zoo & La Jolla

Sunday, August 25, 2013 – Astros game; Houston, TX & Vlog
Monday, August 26, 2013 – San Diego and Old Town & Vlog
Tuesday, August 27, 2013 – Sea World and My Birthday & Vlog 
>>Wednesday, August 28, 2013 – San Diego Zoo and La Jolla<<
Thursday, August 29, 2013 – Travelling to Disneyland/Downtown Disney
Friday, August 30, 2013 – DCA and the Disneyland Half Expo & Vlog
Saturday, August 31, 2013 – Disneyland 10K and Park time & Vlog
Sunday, September 1, 2013 – Disneyland Half Marathon and more park time & Vlog

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San Diego Sunrise 2

I woke up before sunrise on Wednesday morning – apparently my body was still on Central time!  Instead of wasting time trying to fall back asleep, I  got up and walked to the little beach by our room to watch the sunrise. Jason joined me – it was a gorgeous way to begin our morning!

Our plans for the day consisted of a trip to the Zoo followed by an evening in La Jolla.

Siri took us to the correct place this time, no scenic route involved…thankfully!

San Diego Zoo

I purchased Zoo tickets ahead of time online and received a $4 discount per ticket. Parking was free, too…you don’t find that very often.

San Diego Zoo 1

Prior to our trip, I researched online for information about the Zoo. I wanted to see the highlights (if not everything) and I didn’t want to miss anything important!

San Diego Zoo 19

The #1 piece of advice I found was to take the 35 minute Zoo bus tour first thing in the morning. The bus tour helped us understand the layout of the Zoo and pointed out the highlights of exhibits to see!

zoo_map2013a

I described this map as if someone took a marker and scribbled everywhere, then placed animals in the holes. At least that’s how I felt while trying to follow it!

We saw a lot of interesting animals during our time at the Zoo…of course there were the typical elephants, giraffes, and zebras, but I’m going to share a few of the not-so-common Zoo animals here.

San Diego Zoo 2

Mr. Koala was snoozing!

San Diego Zoo 3

Flamingos

San Diego Zoo 4

This Kangaroo was trying to get a tan

San Diego Zoo 5

Why hello there, Mr. Beaver

San Diego Zoo 6

I'm so rumbly in my tumbly, time for something sweet!

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San Diego Zoo 8

Leopard

San Diego Zoo 9

Onto the Pandas!

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This little (big) guy was sleepy!

Around noon, we were hot and tired of walking so we stopped at the Treehouse Café for lunch.

San Diego Zoo 11

San Diego Zoo 12

Loved the view from the top of the park!

After lunch, we walked through the aviary.

San Diego Zoo 13

Jason decided to pretend to fish. I snapped a picture and as I did, I felt something hit my shirt.

San Diego Zoo 14

I knew before I even looked down that a bird had pooped on me. He was mad that Jason was trying to eat his friends…but instead of taking it out on Jason, he took it out on poor little me! Needless to say, I wasn’t a happy camper!

After finishing with the birds (it was a quick tour…imagine that), we continued on to the orangutans!

San Diego Zoo 15 San Diego zoo Karen

I thought the story of Karen was SO cool….AND we share a birthday! Pretty nifty!

Of our three days in San Diego, this was by far the hottest. Thankfully, the Zoo was very shaded and alternate walkways were offered in many instances.

I wish I had worn my pedometer, we walked all over the place!

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San Diego Zoo 17

Polar bears!

San Diego Zoo 18

I spy two Seals! :0) Aren’t they cute?

San Diego  Zoo 10

Mid-afternoon, we stopped by the outdoor theater for a showing of “Australia”. It was a cute little show, but did not have much of an audience (which I found disappointing).

On our way out of the Zoo, we rode the skyway back to the park entrance. By this point, we had walked so much the bottom of my feet were burning and I was worn out!

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The Zoo from up above!

We left the Zoo around 4 p.m. and drove back to our resort to change for dinner and our evening in La Jolla.

La Jolla 2

When we reached La Jolla, we stopped along the coastline to admire the beauty around us.

La JollaLa Jolla 1

We also spotted several seals chillin on the rocks!

La Jolla 3

The puppy dog on the left of the picture was hilarious. He spotted a squirrel in the brush below and all he wanted to do was stare. He wouldn’t let his owner leave! I know for a fact that Madalynn would have jumped the fence and gone after the squirrels herself! This sweet boy just wanted to watch. Loved it!

La Jolla 4

The setting sun was amazing. I’ve watched the sunset from many different places (Hawaii included)…but the sunset in La Jolla was by far the most beautiful and breathtaking sight I’d ever seen!

La Jolla 5

After watching from the railway, we decided to walk out on the levy that’s shown in the above picture.

La Jolla 2

Boy am I glad we did! What a spectacular sight!

La Jolla 8

These seals liked to people watch. :0)

La Jolla 3

After the sun finally dipped into the ocean, Jason and I made our way up to the shopping area of La Jolla for dinner and dessert.

La Jolla 9

Dinner was at a local Mexican restaurant that boasted great reviews on Urban Spoon. Jason had a burrito and I had quesadillas.

La jolla 10

Dessert was shared by Jason and I from an adorable gelato shop – my first taste of gelato. We had a scoop of Vanilla Caramel Nut and it was delicious! 

La Jolla 11

After shopping for souvenirs, we returned to our room for our last night in San Diego.

Coming up tomorrow, a vlog of our day at the Zoo! Stay tuned!

What’s your favorite animal/exhibit to see at a Zoo? I loved the Pandas and the Polar bears at the San Diego Zoo!

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22 comments:

  1. I love the San Diego Zoo! I was there last December and it was so much fun. My favorite exhibit was the elephants.
    La Jolla is gorgeous...don't you wish you could have that view everyday?! :)
    Karen @karenlovestorun

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    1. I agree, the Elephants exhibit was really neat, too! La Jolla...yes, I was envious of those who lived in condos facing the beach. They had their sliding glass doors open and were watching the sunset from their living room - the breeze from the ocean was blowing in....amazing.

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  2. What a beautiful sunset! I miss the beach, I really need to find a way to get back but living smack dab in the middle of the country makes it hard...oh and that I spend every vacation going to WDW. LOL

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    1. I totally understand what you mean! I live on the Gulf of Mexico but ewww...our beaches are gross. Brown water and dirty sand...not beautiful like what you see in Florida or California! Going to WDW for every vacation doesn't help much, either! Haha!!

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  3. I watch the panda cam a lot, so I've seen Mr. Wu since he was days old. He's just so adorable.

    All these pictures make me want to take a trip to SoCal.

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    1. How cool is that! I didn't realize that existed! Such a neat idea!

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  4. What a fun day! That zoo is huge!!! My boys would love it!!! And the pictures of the water are gorgeous!!!

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    1. Thanks Mindy! Regarding the map, I asked Jason..."what happened to a central hub with spokes radiating out like a wagon wheel?" His response, "toto, we aren't in Kansas anymore!" (Aka WDW!) haha!

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  5. What fun pictures!! The giraffes by far are my favorite animal. I imagine watching the sea lions was great as well. Gotta love early mornings on the beach.

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    1. Yes to all of the above! Haha! Such a fun day filled with God's amazing creation!

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  6. I just found your blog, love it! What inspired you to run your first marathon?? I'm nervous to pull the trigger!

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    1. Hi amanda! Thanks so much for stopping by! The WDW Marathon was actually my inspiration to begin running. I wanted to run 26.2 miles in the happiest place on earth, so I trained and the 2011 WDW Marathon was my first Full. After crossing the finish line, I was hooked...and the rest is history! :0)

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  7. What a nice sunrise.

    I like the San Diego zoo. Haven't been there for many years. I'd like to go back!

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    1. Thanks! It was neat to watch the sunrise and the sunset all in the same day! :0) Loved the Zoo!

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  8. Panda bears are my favorite animals to see at the zoo. Being so rare makes them very special. By the way, koala bears are always sleepy because they eat eucalyptus which is a hallucinogenic (Sorry, bad at spelling!)

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    1. Ah yes...now that you say that, we read that on one of the exhibit signs! too funny!

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  9. Even as an adult, I LOVE the zoo! I've never been to the San Diego zoo, but my sister ( whom I blog with) had just visited last year! Great pictures!

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    1. Very neat! I hope she liked the SD Zoo! Love the zoo as well! :0)

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  10. I've heard that a bird pooping on you brings good luck. :) Hopefully that was the case! I love the zoo and I'd love to go to the SD one one day!

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    1. Oh good! That's happened twice to me so far so maybe I'm all set! Haha!

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  11. That maps looks crazy! Sorry about the birds. I'm super jealous of the panda sighting though!

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  12. La Jolla was one of my favorite places we went to in CA last summer. I wanted to go to the San Diego Zoo but we didn't have time. That's on the list for next time! Aren't the seals the neatest things to watch?!

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