California, Here We Come - Day 9 - San Diego Zoo

[Guest]

The Story So Far...

The Pre-Trip Report

Day 1 - Travelling to London

Day 2 - Two Musicals

Day 3 - The London Bridge Experience and touring London

Day 4 - LHR to LAX, yay!

Day 5 - Vegas, baby!

Day 6 - The Strip and Cirque du Soleil

Day 7 - Grand Canyon

Day 8 - Leaving Las Vegas

The Cast

Myself, Rachel, 36, loves planning and theme parks. Can get a bit obsessive about holidays.

OH, Andrew, 43, usually goes along with my plans, loves driving and big trucks, doesn’t care for rides but is happy to mind bags, pushchair and energetic toddler.

DS1, Dan, 16, loves rollercoasters and music. Surgically attached to his Ipod.

DD, Hannah, 11, loves Tinkerbell, swimming pools and getting her own way. Wants to do anything and everything.

DS2, Tom, 2, Mr Independent, thinks he can do everything the big ones do, loves Toy Story and Mickey Mouse.

Saturday 31st July 2010

Happy Birthday Dan! 16 today! Not the most exciting birthday as everyone pretty much gives him money these days – not that he minds!
We were up really early today to drive to San Diego. We’d decided that as we were planning on spending a couple of days in San Diego that we would book a hotel there rather than having to drive there and back more than once so we’d booked another Holiday Inn to stay two nights.

But first, off to San Diego Zoo. The road to San Diego was pretty easy, more or less just one road the whole time. Tried to take a photo to show just how many lanes the roads had – at one point I think there were nine lanes just going on the direction we were going. I couldn’t get a photo that truly showed how very scary the driving was but I tried!



It was really easy to get to San Diego, the hardest part was actually finding the zoo once we got there. Maybe we’re unobservant but there didn’t seem to really be any signs. Nevertheless we got there and parked in the car park. Even better, parking was free – at least I hope it was as we didn’t pay anything and didn’t see anyone else paying anything either.



We were soon in using our So Cal City Pass booklets and decided to do the bus tour first. This worked out well as it covered a lot of the zoo, so we got to see a lot of the animals with very little walking. The information given out by the guide was interesting too. Tom really enjoyed seeing the animals but got just as excited when he saw a digger in one of the enclosures. He also enjoyed seeing one of the elephants having its toenails cut though come to think of it we were all a bit intrigued by that!







Afterwards we had a wander around getting a closer look at the animals and taking loads of photos. I like this one as it looks as though Dan and Hannah had brought their toys out for the day. Goodness knows what anyone watching them thought! (In case you didn’t realise, Barnaby Bear is from school and Woody is Tom’s pride and joy!)



We also went to see the sea lions show. I love sea lions so was looking forward to this. It was good but not as funny as Clyde and Seamore at Seaworld. Tom sat well for it though, which was a bonus.



Lunchtime beckoned and we ate at some nondescript counter service place where the food was so so. Andrew had some kind of Mexican taco dish, I had salad and the kids had burgers and chicken strips. What was quite nice were the cups the drinks came in as they were reusable cups with quite nice animal pictures on the sides.

Afterwards we wandered further, looking at more animals and then we came across a park. Usually we’ve always had to follow Tom around in parks but we noticed his ability to climb and navigate around the park equipment has improved drastically so we were able to let him go off with Hannah while we watched from a seat, having a well deserved sit down. A rare photo of Andrew and I together follows. Please try not to notice how sitting with him makes me look enormous!





The two younger kids had a great time playing and had to be practically dragged away. We continued looking around the animals









and I was amused to meet this little chap.



We were looking at the otters when a zoo worker wheeled him in, in a wheelbarrow. She pushed him right up to the glass and was telling him that they were otters and what they were doing. She mentioned that he was new to the zoo and she was showing him round. As we left I heard her say to him “Come on then, let’s see the camels” It just tickled me that she was giving him a guided tour!

We came across the elephants again and Tom waited ages to get a go sitting in a rocking elephant.



At this point my camera batteries died, and though we had new ones we’d left them behind at Buena Park so I went off to buy some. When I returned the whole family were watching the elephants.



Continued in next post...

[Guest]

Tom obviously remembered the tour this morning as he was asking if the elephant was going to get his nails cut. As we watched Andrew was stopped by a man who noticed his Leeds United tattoo and said he was from Leeds. They were getting quite engrossed in their discussion when the man’s little boy fell out of his pushchair and began to cry – oops! We made a hasty retreat and if that was your little boy then OH is sorry for distracting your husband!

After more wandering around, including going through the aviary – quickly as I am a bit scared of birds! – we headed for the exit and went to check into our new hotel.

The hotel didn’t look very exciting from the outside but we were soon checked in and the rooms (two doors away from each other) were nice and clean. Andrew wasn’t impressed to be charged an overnight parking fee though.






We showered and changed and Andrew asked at reception for directions for somewhere to look for somewhere to eat. We followed the directions to end up at the harbour, then we weren’t sure which way to go next. We turned right and walked someway along the harbour. It was a nice evening and it was quite a lovely walk. This part of San Diego is beautiful. After a while it seemed there wasn’t much ahead so we turned around and walked until we came to the Seaport Village area. Ah, maybe this is the direction we should have come in the first place. I liked the walk along the ocean front. There were loads of street entertainers and people pedalling rickshaws.



The one thing I didn’t like though were the number of homeless people. I am quite soft hearted and it really upset me, especially when we saw people eating leftover food from bins. We saw one girl who was obviously very heavily pregnant as well. A couple of times Andrew gave a few dollars to people but obviously it wasn’t possible to do this for everyone. It just about broke my heart and made me feel really bad.

By the time we arrived at Seaport Village we were all really hungry so ate at one of the first places we saw. As it was Dan’s birthday we had been meaning to go somewhere really nice but he said he was happy to go out to somewhere nice the next night instead, poor Dan! The place we ate was called Marion’s and it was really just a counter service fish place. Andrew had fish and rice which he later said was the only meal he didn’t enjoy on our holiday. Dan, Hannah and I had shrimp and fries and they were really tasty. The fries were the nicest we had all holiday – delicious! Plus the eating area had a great view.



We wandered further along the oceanfront, watching the odd entertainer and looking in a few shops. There were lots of people dressed up as celebrities here as well, posing with people for tips or pretending to be statues. One mime was doing a routine with a stiffed animal as we passed and as we went by he threw it at Hannah making her jump and scream. She was a bit embarrassed as the crowd all laughed and as she passed one man he gave an extra laugh, right in her face!



As we hadn’t had dessert we decide to splash out on Ben and Jerry’s ice-creams. Hannah got chocolate chip cookie dough and Dan and I got peanut brittle cones, expensive but yum! I got Tom a vanilla tub, thinking that was most appropriate for his age. What I forgot is that he thinks he’s the same age as the other two, so he nearly broke his heart that he didn’t have a cone as well. Andrew ended up eating Tom’s small tub while we went back for a cone for him.



We ate the ice-creams walking back to the hotel, which was uneventful other than when Hannah had a minor crying fit over the fact that she’d just had the ice-cream and she felt bad because some people there didn’t even have any food. I think she inherited my soft-heartedness!

Back at the hotel we booked the hotel shuttle to take us to Seaworld and Hannah and I went off to our room where we read for a little while before going to sleep.

Tomorrow: Seaworld

[Guest]

Originally Posted by Disney Emma

Another fantastic day!

We are not sure if we will have time to fit San Diego into our trip next year.
Do you think it would be worthwhile trying to squeeze it in? Is there anything there that we really shouldn't miss?

We are thinking of visiting the Zoo in San Fransisco and OH has heard that Seaworld isn't as good as Florida

Would appreciate your thoughts!

See more...

I don't think we were in San Diego long enough to do it justice, to be honest. The zoo was a lovely zoo and the bits of San Diego we saw were very picturesque but I would probably agree that Seaworld wasn't quite as good as Florida. We did enjoy it there though. We didn't go to San Fransisco so I can't really say which is better though I imagine if you ask on the main board you will get lots of advice. Sorry, I wasn't much help really, was I?

[WDWKaren]

I loved San Diego zoo when we visited it ... san diego is a lovely place to visit

[travelmam]

We also absolutely love San Diego, it's such a beautiful cosmopolitan city, along with the fantastic world famous San Deigo Zoo which is a must do, if visiting this area.

Our DS will be jealous, when he sees the pic of the polar bear, as there seems to be more life in them, than when we were there

Just to put your mind at rest, the parking is free, which makes a refreshing change, lol.

Sounds like you had has much luck with your camera at the zoo as what we did, as we had to buy a new SD memory card

Nice to see Hannah wearing a dress, rather than a England football shirt, lol.

Would also like to wish Dan a belated happy 16th birthday!

[houseofmouse]

Hi another good day, tom looked like he was having a great time on the slides - typical pay all that money and they love the slides LOL!

[liverbird]

Another great day!

[Nicki G]

Great trip report. Your photos bring back happy memories of my trip last year. I loved San Diego although didnt get to seaworld as decided on the Wild Animal Park as an alternative

[vitfa]

Zoo looks fabby - poor hannah - im the same aloways feel guilty over that - but another great day regardless L x

[DisneyMadAng]

Happy birthday Dan. How lucky to be in such a fab place to celebrate.