San Diego Trip: Part 2

Sorry you are going to get bombed with photos from the San Diego Zoo.  I am very glad that we went here.  I loved it.  I just wish I had more time to spend there than I did!

 my little one loves snakes.  He was running window to window wide eye yelling "nake" all the time.  Even at the lizards which he called "lisards".  Close enough.

 On the sky tramp over from the top of the zoo across the "river" and back.  what fun it was to sit with my son and relax in the cool ocean breeze and see some of the city ariel style and get off my feet!

 We really enjoyed seeing the polar exhibit.  The mama polar bear just went inside her habitate the day before and usually only goes in like that to have her babies.  Yes she was expecting, so Animal Planet doesnt need to do a show on "I didnt know I was pregnant".

 This hippo loves to get squirted down with water.  Almost like brushing teeth, taking a bath and a massage all at the same time!  Perhaps I need a new shower head!

 This guy has an unfortunate job, feeding the crocs!  No not the shoes.  Look and you can see their long slender mouths with jagged teeth sticking up.  I have nightmares about having to do this!  But it was fun to watch them feed.

 We saw the chimps and orangutangs.  I am not sure this chimp was the smartest of the bunch he was playing with a pie he made himself!  Ewww!!  Yes, he sniffed it and ate it too.

 Harry, there you are!  The Hendersons are looking for you.

 California Condors, nearly all extinct, but were saved thanks to San Diego Zoo efforts and the populations are growing.  I remember seeing these as a kid growing up in CA.  Glad to see they are coming back.

 This is no laughing matter....we didnt get to hear the heyenahs laugh!  I was a little sad about that!

 I have been on a life long quest to see a Koala Bear!  I finally did.  They had some at the zoo.  This one was just hanging out in the "tree" as we rode the bus right by it!

 Thought I stopped in Texas for a bit by seeing an Armadillo up close.  This one was wiley, it was running away from the zoo worker.

 My kids love goats...even enough to alert the zoo staff when they peed and pooped!  HAHA!

 Red pandas are usually sleeping when we see them at the zoos.  We saw this one shortly before closing and it was out!  Im glad I got to see it actually move instead of sleep.

 Of course the famed pandas!  I love pandas and my son kept saying pandas over and over again.  It was so quite in there I think he would have woken the entire world "pandas, pandas pandas".  This little toddler panda was cute.  I think we caught them at dinner time.  Mama panda was out eating too, on the otherside of the habitat.  Sometimes I think she is on to something there...she doesnt care if her baby makes a mess though since the park workers clean up...maybe i need some park workers!

 My sweet girl at the pandas.  She was looking forward to this too.  This was my best shot of her since she was always helping with the boys or playing or moving around so all the shots were blurry!

 I just love this one.  Baby panda rolled too far back and tipped over and just stayed there eating away!  Panda moon!

 Just before close mom and my sweet girl headed for the exit and I took the boys to see the gorillas.  We caught them just as they were heading inside before the sun started to go down.  They were cool.  I ended up walking in circles twice before I finally found my way back to the exit.  Please note, all panda shots were done by my lovely wife!

 There were lots of beautiful plants, trees and flowers there.  These were some hibiscus that i liked in particular.

Part 1: In San Diego

We finally were able to get away from regular life.  Though our trip didnt turn out to be much different than regular life, we still had a little bit of fun.  My son got a bad ear infection and virus and was hot and feverish and in pain the whole time.  We took him to an ED down there and we will see how much that will cost.  But he is my hero for still wanting to go to the zoo and sea world and hanging round a wedding!  What a great kid!

First stop was the Mormon Battalion Historic Site.  Back during the war with Mexico, the POTUS wanted a regiment of troops to meet the mormons to join the fight.  The mormons, after being forced our of their homes in the middle of winter in Illinois has already begun the journey across the plains to Utah.  Many didnt want to join because the mormons had petitioned of the goverment many times to stop the mob violent and oppression and to reclaim stolen land/property.  Brigham Young was the leader of the church said it would become a great blessing for them and so nearly 500 men and women joined.  The marched through many villages and helped build them up into towns and cities.  They mapped a lot of the lower portions of the southwest.  San Diego was a mere village when the Mormon Battalion got there and they help build it into a small city.

From their they left and settled in the central valley of California and some even helped build up San Francisco.  They started the first newspaper in San Francisco.  Many built the mill in Sutter, CA where gold was found.  Some members of the Battalion were the horseback riders who delivered the newspaper that broke the store nationwide.  Once the mill in Sutter, CA was finished the Battalion members left for Utah.  The blazed the trail through Carson Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains through Tahoe.  This route became the way for the travelers for the gold rush.  The trail the Battalion members mapped in the Southwest was one of the primary reasons for the Gauston Purchase and became the route for interstates and the southern pacific railroad.

You could say that the Mormon Batallion helped shape the beginnings of the major events of the first part of California's history!  Not many Californias would like to here it I bet, but the truth is out there.

We went to Sea World two days.  Here are pictures from the first day.  We decided to see the legacy of Shamu first off to beat the crowds.   You can see how excited we were!

We got to see the mom and her fairly new baby before the show.  Can you believe Orcas carry their babies for 18 months before delivery?  K wouldnt be willing to go that long!  Poor Orca mommies!

And here are the photos from the show.  I cant tell you how impressive it is the way these Orcas can train themselves to do these tricks!

We were able to walk by as a group of people were getting their dolphin encounter and made the most of it by some really up close viewing and photos!  Dolphins perhaps are this families favorite.

Of course there has to be a little fun involved like dippin dots (still not getting the appeal there) and face painting.

Aye Sea turtles!  We got to see these really close up, especially on our second day.  I sure love sea turtles!

Then the dolphin show began.  We were in complete sun in the hottest part of the afternoon when this was on so I dont have pictures of our faces.  They were be all red, tired and screnched up anyway.  But again these dolphins are amazing to see them do this with their bodies.

 I still cant get over the curve of this dolphin as it was doing a walk.  It is almost a perfect S shape.

The Sea Lion show is more of a comical parody of Saturday Night Live segment of CSI.  Quite entertaining and funny.

Cant leave any park without touching some kind of animal, fish, shell, etc.  So this time we got to touch the sting rays.

Here is an up close short of the underside of a sting ray.  Pretty cool.