San Diego Zoo Part 1

Your mom is making breakfast, when you get up. You step outside, The morning sky is clear and the blue has a pink tint in the east. The sun rising above the buildings to the east of you. You hear peacocks yelling in the nearby zoo. They are so cool to hear. You take a walk around Balboa Park with your sister and dog. The park is so green and alive. It is beautiful. The trunks of the trees twist and turn around themselves. Nearby a group of honey bees buzz around some bushes with little tiny flowers. You pass two giant hedges the shape of elephants. These two hedges used to be at the entrance of the zoo. They are awesome. One has tusks made of a plastic that make them look realistic. You walk back to your parents. After all, you should start getting things ready for the day. At least it isn't going to be over 75 degrees today.

Cars start to pull in and the parking lot fills up. There is still a half hour until the zoo opens. You pack a backpack with waters and some snacks. You and your sister put some sunscreen on and then put it in the backpack. You mom grabs your membership cards and you head to the entrance. The lines are packed. They each have about 40 people in each line and there are 8 lines. You are lucky though, you don't have to wait. You head in and the guards swipe your cards. You walk through the gate and enter the zoo.

A map of the zoo. I claim no rights.

The zoo was founded in 1916. You are going to try and see as many things as you can. But the zoo is so big, people say it takes 3 days to see everything. You grab three maps and give your mom and sister one. Your sister wants to see the elephants and you want to see the polar bears. You take the gondola across the zoo to the polar bears. The gondola is about 200 feet above the zoo and was built in the 1950s. You and your sister climb in one car and your parents in another.

As you travel over the treetops and enclosures you watch for animals. Most of the enclosures are covered in trees. But you see a gorilla and a panda. People in other cars pass you going the other direction. You look out to both sides of you. You see a beautiful church spire to the left. The architecture of the spire is like a mix of 16th century and 18th century architecture. To your right you can see hills and part of the city far away. You start your decent down to the building. You hop off and wait for your parents outside.

You all decide to go see the polar bears first. You walk up the road towards the polar bears and along the way there are some exhibits. There are some African gazelles in one and they have some babies from this year. They are all tan with white stripes down their backs. The big males have horns that are straight and black. They stand straight in the air like two model towers.  Next to the gazelle enclosure is an exhibit with a couple different kinds of African deer. One of the species is  twist and swirl more than a foot above their heads.

You cross the road and enter the polar bear exhibit. You look through some thick glass and see clear, bright blue water. You don't see any polar bears so you go to the upper viewing area. When there you can see two polar bears. One of the polar bears is in a den and the second is out laying in the sun sleeping. They look big and there pearl white coats look soft and warm. They look like enlarged versions of white stuffed bears. There are supposed to be three, but the third one is somewhere you can't see it.

You walk out of the exhibit. There is a life sized statue of a polar bear you can compare yourself to. There is also an old helicopter you can sit in and a couple other exhibits. One of the exhibits is an arctic fox. You look around the enclosure and do not see it. You sit there a couple more minutes seeing which of your family members can spot it. Finally, your dad spots it. You have go to the far end of the cage to see it. You can see its black nose and white head peeking out over the edge of a fake rock. It just lays there, soundly sleeping.

Next to the arctic fox enclosure is a reindeer enclosure. The enclosure is a rock face and there are a couple reindeer at the top, one on the middle portion of the rocks, and a couple at the bottom. The ones at the bottom, you can only see the antlers. They look just like Santa's reindeer. All of their antlers are covered in velvet (in other words, they are still growing).

You leave the exhibit and walk towards the elephants which are the past the gondola. You pass the building for the gondola and see the new mountain lion exhibit on your left. When you look into the cage you see the tail of one mountain lion hiding below. There is another one in a den near your feet. It is dark in the den so it is hard to see, but the puma just lays in there. It has big eyes and paws. It has a long, lean orange-tan body. Its long tail helps it keep its balance just like a cheetah's.

Across the road is the exhibit for the maned wolf pen. The maned wolves have a scent gland just like foxes so you can definitely smell them. The maned wolf is hiding in the back corner sleeping in the shade. They are a bright orange with a touch of black and white on the feet and tails. They look like a wolf in fox skin. You get a couple pictures of it and keep going because your sister keeps nagging to see the elephants. You follow the signs to Elephant Odesey. You see the sign for the entrance to Elephant Odyssey. You enter the first area. It is a pavilion with brown wood like walls that are covered in informational posters about the La Brea Tar Pits. There is a pit in the middle that is a model of the Tar Pits. You read the posters and continue on.

When you exit the pavilion the lion exhibit is to your left and a sloth exhibit is to your right. The decision on what to see first is unanimously agreed upon. You go over to the sloth exhibit to look for it. You spot the sloth in his nest, sleeping. It's tan in color and has long hair and nails. Its hair reminds you of a shag carpet. It has three toes, so it is a Three-Toed Sloth. Next to its pen is a model of Giant Sloth, which roamed the Earth millions of years ago. You get pictures with it and then go over to the lion pen. The lions stink, because they spray just like domestic cats. When you look through the fence the male is asleep on a rock in the middle of the pen. His head is turned away from you so you can't see his face. Part of his brown mane stands on end as if styling gel was used on it. There is a female laying nearby. She has a large head and large, deep brown eyes. She looks at the people gathered around her cage. Her tan body is lean and the muscles are pronounced. She lays there not moving. She just stares back at everyone.

The neighbors to the lions are Jaguars. They look like small leopards. They have orange coats with thick black circles and loops.

Next exhibit is the Capybaras and Llamas. Capybaras are the world's largest rodent. They are actually pretty cute. They have some bigger babies which splash and play in their pool with some adults. Some sleep in a little den while the others play. Their pen is right next to the llamas. The llamas are cool, but you have seen them before. You hear the nearby church bell signaling the turn of the hour. It is lunch time. You grab out your snacks and sit down for a minute and watch the capybaras and jaguars.

Next up is the elephants. The elephant enclosure is huge. They have a large pool and they have a couple areas they can be in. They also have stalls they can go in. You can see three female elephants. There is one African and 2 Asian. The African female has larger ears than the two Asian The bull elephant is in a separate pen from the females because males are solitary beings. The bull is a large Asian elephant. He has very large tusks. His gray skin has wrinkles everywhere, but he is a majestic beauty. He is proof of the strength elephants have.

After the elephants you come to two pens. One has two camels and two antelope and the other has a donkey and a horse. The donkey and the horse stand near their building and ignore everything around them. The donkey is your typical gray color and rough, thick hair. The horse is a black mustang. Even when a little kid yells at them, neither moves a muscle. About 20 feet from the horse and the donkey pen there is another large glass cage and a giant bird enclosure. Rattlesnakes California condors

You leave Elephant Odyssey and head back toward the entrance of the zoo. You are surprised to see that many of the enclosures along the way are closed for renovation. You decide to go to see the koala bears and wallabies next. You take a right into the Outback. Here you see so many koalas. They are so cute. Most of them are asleep, which is to be expected considering they sleep 22 hours a day. But you do spot a couple moving around and one even is eating.

You go see the rhino next. He is huge and looks like he is covered in armor. He has feet as big as a saucer and a horn as big around as a grapefruit. And you can see his shear strength. To the left of the rhino there is the giraffes. There are a couple babies, which are already over 7 feet tall. One of the males is 18 feet tall. Their height makes it kind of hard to believe that they have the same amount of neck bones as humans do.

Next to the giraffe enclosure is the kangaroo exhibit. A giraffe peaks its head over the fence to look at its neighbors. The kangroos are laying in the shade sleeping. A couple prop themselves up on their elbows. They are just relaxing the day away ignoring everyone you passes.

You leave the area and move on taking another road. On this road you see a sun bear, otters, grizzly bears, a couple types of monkeys, and an Andean bear. The grizzly bears you see are brothers. They were rescued from Yellowstone National Park in Idaho. They are big and when they stand up they are massive. Next to them is a sun bear. The sun bear is from Asia. It has a yellow face but the rest of its body is black. Gray faux stone walls seperate the bears. And next to the sun bear is yet another bear, an Andean bear. This bear is hiding in its dark cave. You walk down the road and have to make a decision. You can either go see the pandas or skip them.

You skip the pandas to see the zebras and some eagles. The most amazing of the eagles is the harpy eagle. They live on cliffs by the oceans. They are so massive they could easily carry a small child away. There is another eagle you don't see the name for it but it is a golden brown color. It looks like a giant red hawk. Their are two in the enclosure and they sit on their branches pride radiating off of them. Each of the enclosures have giant trees growing in them. The trail winds past another bird enclosure but you can't see the bird. It winds down to the panda entrance.

You enter Panda Trek. The line is shorter this time of day. You're able to make it right to the Red Panda exhibit. There are two red pandas, but you only see one. The one you see is sacked out in a small hammock. The red pandas look like a mix between a cat and a bear. They are fluffy and have a very fluffy tail. Across from the red pandas are Takin. Takin are a type of bovine that looks similar to a yak. They are very hair and have very long hair. But they are also like goats because they like to climb. One of the Takin you see standing on the a ledge on another stands on a rock in the middle of their enclosure.

Finally, you make it to the pandas right before they start to take them inside. One panda is up and walking around while the other is asleep in a tree. They are actually pretty big compared to what you were thinking.

An announcement comes over the speakers. It is closing time. You hear a lion roar across the zoo as you go through the exit. You were only able to cover half of the zoo today. You will cover the other half tomorrow. It is a giant zoo and makes you get a lot of exercise. Most of the time it takes 3 days to go through. All of the walking wears you out. When you get back out to your vehicle you don't even want to take the todays clothes off. You pretty much drag yourself into your bed and are asleep before your head hit the pillow.