It's like a jungle in this habitat

Now a days everybody wanna talk
like they got somethin' to say
but nothing comes out when they move their lips
just a bunch of jibberish
cuz' mothers and fathers need to watch their kids at the zoo.

Next up, the World Famous San Diego Zoo!

That's quite an impressive title - World Famous.

However, unlike all the above "World Famous" places/companies you've probably heard of the San Diego Zoo before.

We did see a lot of really cool animals, like sleepy koalas

dancing elephants

hungry PANDAS (the highlight of the zoo)

lazy pandas

peacocks roaming around

swimming ducks

zebras (camoflauged against Andrea's hoodie)

gymnast orangutans

A DOG!  (This kind of funny because I told Andrea earlier that I that I thought it would be amusing if among all these exotic animals they had some that are really common, like a bunch of different dogs or something.  Low and behold we turn a corner and there is a dog in an exhibit.  Luckily there was a cheetah in there with it.  Well, luckily for the dog it wasn't the cheetah's food and luckily for the zoo-goers it wasn't just a dog on display.  This was one of a few groups of dogs that were "friends" with some very different animals.  Anyway, there was a dog on display at THE San Diego Zoo, how funny!)

Bears beets Battlestar Galactica

After the zoo closed we wandered around Balboa Park

Among the buildings and what not we even found more animals - a bee!

Yup, another great day in the eighth largest city in America and second largest in California - Sunny San Diego.

Sandy Eggo

Next stop on the party wagon: San Diego Zoo Safari Park!

We did a LOT of walking here.  THANKFULLY they have a little tram ride that you can go on to check out some of the aminals (we went on it twice because it was so nice).

Some of the highlights of the day included:
armadillos

flowers

Dr. Suess plants

bald eagles

the Tam/Wang wedding

aviaries to check out the birdies

butterfly-eries to check out the butterflies (also home to the passive aggressive park employees)

petting zoo with deer

elephantes

bunnies (inside the herb garden that was fenced off to keep the rabbits out)

cheaters

long-necked spotted bush deer

wild deer that snuck into the park

dik diks

We even learned to leap across lily pads while at the park.

We had a lot of fun getting pretty up close with all the furry, feathery, flying and flora friends.

A rhino gave us a pretty good laugh but the file was too big to upload - TOO BAD FOR YOU!

SAN DIEGO A GO GO!!!!!!!!

After having survived imminent doom on 5/21/11 we were ready for some vacation time. Enter Memorial Day!  With an extended weekend we decided we should go down to San Diego and get some multi-day passes for Sea World, the San Diego Zoo Safari Park (the Park formerly known as the San Diego Wild Animal Park) and the World Famous San Diego Zoo.

I had never been to Sea World before and Andrea had never been to the Zoo, so we were prepared to be dazzled.

We started out with Sea World, first stop - PENGUINS!!

Not a great picture, but you can't use your flash and I couldn't find anything to steady the camera on :(

We then waddled over to get on the Wild Arctic Ride to see other Arctic animals such as Polar Bears, Beluga Whales, and a Walrus.  (Just in case you find yourself debating on whether you should wait in line for this ride or just go on to the animals, I suggest skipping it)

The Polar Bears were off to a disappointing start as far as entertainment value was concerned.

After we were done freezing we made our way over to the Sharks!  It was REALLY cool and there was even a small koi pond-ish aquarium that had clown fish in them (or as many parents referred them: "nemos").  I had no idea how tiny they were!  I can only blame nature documentaries for zooming in so much on the little fish so that I can't do anything but be shocked when I see one in real life.

These are sharks, not clown fish

Having massive sharks swim all around you can be pretty intense so we relaxed a little bit with a "skyride" over part of Mission Bay.

And finally the piece de resistance, the Killer Whale show!

A few months ago Andrea and I went to the aquarium at the end of the pier at Manhattan Beach and I found out that Killer Whales eat other whales and sharks!  I knew that they ate seals and loads of fish, but I was unaware that whales and sharks were a part of their diet.  I thought that was cool and immediately placed them on my list of favorite animals.  That added to the fact that these are HUGE creatures that jump completely out of the water and do flips made this a very impressive and entertaining show.

When the show was over it was now closing time; all the fishies, mammals, reptiles, etc. had to get ready for bed.  Andrea and I, on the other hand, were far from ready to end the festivities.  Since we weren't too far from Old Town San Diego we cruised on over and found some parking by the Mormon Battalion Historic Site.  Since it was still open we decided on checking it out; it was very, VERY different from what I was expecting!

Along the way we were outfitted in the gear the soldiers wore (we split it up because Andrea wasn't going to stay behind/go to Utah when I was going to be going to Sunny San Diego!)

 and even became honorary members of the Battalion.

Not a bad way to start the holiday.