San Diego Zoo

Almost for as long as I can remember, I had wanted to go to the San Diego Zoo. Seeing Joan Embry on the Johnny Carson show back in the early 70's made me want to visit the zoo where all these amazing animals were kept! I never thought I'd get the chance to visit the zoo until we moved to California in December 2008. Within a month of being here, we did go visit the zoo and it was all that I thought it would be! To make my dream come true was absolutely amazing, so you know that a second visit to the zoo was another dream come true.

We arrived about an hour after the zoo opened and spent the day walking around the zoo. The difference between this trip and the first trip was that we did tours on the first trip- guarantee to see many animals that way, but not for long! By walking on this trip, it ensured that we got to spend the time with the animals we weren't able to before. Granted, we didn't get to see as many animals, but then we did see animals you can't see on the tours!

We visited the new Elephant Odyssey exhibit and found it to be wonderfully educational on the evolution of the elephant. Covering wooly mammoths and other prehistoric animals, it was simply amazing. The elephant enclosures are so much bigger than the old exhibit. I realize that this doesn't come anywhere near what an elephant's range would be in the wild, but for those of us that couldn't visit these magnificent animals in their natural habitat, this is the next best thing as the zoo is truly dedicated to enriching the animals lives.

Being the photographic addict that I am, I took loads of photographs. After looking at all my photos, I was surprised to find that one of my favorite photos was a photograph of a rattlesnake! Not your typically cuddly animal, that's for sure! I think the beauty of the scales along with the deadliness in the eyes was what grabbed me in this photo. It may not be so apparent in this small version of the photo, but you should see it at 100% of it's size!

I've added many of my photos to my homepage under "Discovering California". It's a page I've made in order to show you what we've discovered as we spend our time in California. It is truly turning out to be the adventure we wanted it to be. If you'd like to see more of my zoo photographs, you can visit my website at www.snghere.com/sandiegozoo5-24-09.html.