Our final day was blessed with perfect weather. We had a late flight and decided to make the most of the day. First stop….the San Diego Zoo!
At first, I was a little dismayed at the cages and exhibits the zoo had for the animals. I guess I am a little spoiled by the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. But, what amazed both David and I, were the incredible variety of animals they have. We learned about many animals we never even knew existed!
They have a large exhibit for koalas. Apparently, the eucalyptus they eat is hard to digest and koalas spend the majority of their days sleeping off their meals!
This is a sweet thing to witness. It is actually a mama sleeping with her baby. The mom’s head is tucked down and you can see the baby’s head and arm…
We just missed and incredible opportunity to watch a camel give birth. We came just after the mother had given birth, and unfortunately was in prolapse (her uterus came out with the afterbirth). They did not let us stay to watch due to the stress the camels were under. The father camel was very aggitated. Poor mama looked miserable, and stunned. I managed to get this distant shot of the keepers tending to the baby, who was doing well…
Here is one of the animals we never knew existed. It is called the " New Guinea Singing Dog". They are wild dogs living in the mountains of New Guinea. They do not bark, and their howl is similar in pitch to singing. hence the name. Isn’t he gorgeous?!
A gorgeous jaguar.
The mountain lion AKA puma…
Sunbathing panda…
Fun otters. The keeper had just fed them and they were going crazy!
The majestic tiger….
The skeleton of a python…
A few of God’s finest creations…
The flamingoes were courting and they were entertaining to watch…
The zoo has a sky tram that took us from one end of the zoo to the other…
A view of a church from the sky tram…
Arial view of the gorillas. Here is a mama with a baby on her back…
One of the resident peacocks. They were all over the zoo…
‘A’ on top of a sculpture of an extinct cat…
The capybara! We were excited to discover these little guys because we had just completed reading "Cappyboppy"; a cute story about a capybara who came to live with a family in America. The capybara is world’s largest rodent, and sounds like a guinea pig.
After the zoo, we drove through Balboa Park , to the USS Midway. The USS Midway (CVB/CVA/CV-41) was an aircraft carrier of the United States Navy, active in the Vietnam War and in Operation Desert Storm.
On the hangar deck…
On the flight deck..
Many of planes on the flight deck had wings that could either fold up or fold back. I never considered this!
View of the San Diego skyline from the flight deck…
The stateroom where meetings were held. There is a small galley attached.
The war room…
What a fun way to end our day. The flight back was light and we all got to sit in the front row!