The San Diego Zoo

Although it is about as out-dated as "The Rachel," I just have to finish my California post series, which includes our trip to the world-famous San Diego Zoo. Jeremy hadn't been to the zoo since he lived in San Diego while in high school. Needless to say he was due a trip to see the animals. Although I had been to the zoo the previous summer, I still enjoyed our trip and I got to see the new Elephant sanctuary area that they were constructing the year before. There's really no need for narrating. Nothing too exciting happened while we were at the zoo - no stampeding elephants, no ravenous lions, no monkeys throwing poop. It was a very tame day. So I'll just post some of my photos of the beautiful animals.

The flamingos greet you the moment you walk in the gate.


Jeremy having some fun.


Hippos


We waited in a long line to see the pandas. I thought that maybe the experience would be different a year later - plus since Jeremy hadn't been to the zoo in so long I figured it couldn't hurt to wait in line to see them. But, just like last year, it was a tad disappointing. You stand in line to be shuffled through the viewing area and then the pandas are no where to be seen. Luckily I did get one photo of a panda's back. Joy.


The giraffes were fun and actively eating lunch.




All of the koalas were sleeping - as usual.


The camels were interesting. This one was foaming at the mouth and his hump was a little floppy. I was a tad concerned he had co-mingled with the pigs and caught the swine flu.


Here we are at the Elephant Odyssey. It was pretty cool! And, no, it was not simply because the elephant is the mascot for the best college football team EVER! ;-)






An owl.


At the end of the day we jumped in the air cart and rode over the park.

California Vacation - Part II

The second phase of our vacation we spent in Los Angeles with Jeremy's cousin Michael and his wife Mia and son Jack. We got up bright and early and rode the train down the coast. I had done this last summer and it proved to be a very economical means of transportation. For this trip it was $108 total for both of us to go from Gover Beach all the way to San Diego! You can't beat that!! In fact, our rental car from San Jose to San Luis Obispo cost us a whopping $150 for one day!! It was ridiculous! So the train is the way to go. Plus, you don't have to deal with California traffic, which is always an added benefit.

On the way down, I was able to get on the computer and do some blogging and playing. But that is only because Jeremy brought his air card. Unfortunately, the train did not have wi-fi. But there were outlets so my battery would last the entire time! We had our little seating section all to ourselves, which was also nice. We arrived in LA around 11:30 a.m., which was pretty good timing.

Michael picked us up and we met up with the rest of the family and went to lunch at this great little Mexican restaurant. After a quick change of clothes (because it was sweltering hot in LA! Completely different from SLO) we met up with some of Michael and Mia's friends at one of the popular parks in the neighborhood. It was beautiful! Really high up and overlooked the baseball stadium, as well as the city. There were a ton of people out playing soccer, but we chose to play bocce ball. SO MUCH FUN! And of course we had beer, lots and lots of beer.

That evening we went to a local place that had true deep dish Chicago pizza that Mia raved about. She is from Chicago and was complaining that no place had been able to mimic "true" Chicago pizza, until this place came along. I wish I could remember the name of it. The pizza was HUGE! I had one slice and was done. Then we had some time left before they had told the babysitter we'd be home, so we went to this little bar they like and sat out on the rooftop. It was a lot of fun.

The next morning we headed out again on the train, destined for San Diego. It was a short trip in LA, but it was great to see Michael and Mia and baby Jack!

I took a ton of photos of Jack. He was just so cute!!
(And yes, that is him with a beer. What can I say? The kid loves the stuff! Ok, don't get your panties in a wad - he did actually drink it!)



(I promise, it wasn't open!)










A few of the family:








Michael and Mia's friends:




The view from the park we went to. This is the baseball stadium:


And the LA skyline, complete with some smog!

California vacation - part 1

Our California vacation started out to a rocky start. As I mentioned on my pre-vacation post, we weren't flying out of Tallahassee until 4:30 p.m. Unfortunately, I completely underestimated the time we would arrive in Grover Beach. I had hoped we would get there around 1:00 a.m. California time - which would be 4:00 a.m. our time (yes, I miscalculated the time difference in the pre-vacation post!) Well, it didn't quite end up like that. Of course we were extremely delayed leaving out of Atlanta. Why was I even surprised?!? It is to be expected. It is Atlanta after all. Needless to say, by the time we finally arrived at my aunt's condo in Grover Beach and got in bed, it was well after 3:00 a.m. their time (aka, 6:00 a.m. Florida time). We were exhausted!

We did sleep until 10ish, but even that wasn't enough. But when you have limited time in a location and a lot of people to see, you have to get a move on. So we headed to San Luis Obispo, met up with my parents, dropped off the rental car, and then went out to see where my grandma was buried. Here is a photo of me and mom at grandma and grandpa's grave.


There was this house on the way to my grandparents' house that had boots lined up along their fence. It was such a cool photo op!!!

The sign above my grandparents' garage:


Beautiful flowers growing around the garage:


My grandpa's old '65 mustang. I really wanted to buy it and bring it home and rebuild it. But to haul it across the country would have cost a small fortune. :-( So I'll have to settle for the memories of it.


My always had grandparents' so many different types of fruit in their backyard: limes, loquats, oranges, grapefruits, pears! It was so much fun to grab fresh fruit off the trees.

A sentimental moment and some family.

My grandparents' house.


That night we still hadn't adjusted to the time change, so we headed back to the condo early and went to bed. It was glorious!

The next morning we were meeting my parents at The Apple Farm for breakfast. As we pull into the restaurant, I look over and recognize a cute little blue car. "Wow!" I thought, "it looks like a smurf . . ." Well, lo and behold, when we walked into the restaurant there was Kara and Ben!!! They had driven all the way down from Monterrey to surprise Jeremy and me! OMG!!! It was such a wonderful surprise! I had been a tad disappointed because it had looked like I wasn't going to the opportunity to meet up with Kara. And then next summer she is heading to China. So I was sad thinking that I wouldn't get to see her until possibly 2011 when we attempt to go to China to visit. So I was estatic when I realized she had come down to visit for the day!!

Mom and dad:


Jeremy and me:

Kara and me:


Kara and Ben:


And the four of us (it was REALLY bright out!):


After breakfast, Kara, Ben, Jeremy, and I headed out on our own. We went to Morro Bay and walked along the street looking at all the shops. Ben attempted to climb Morro Rock, as you can see from one of the photos below. And then we sat and chilled with a beer. It was a great afternoon. Then we headed back to my grandparent's house for the BBQ. It was about that time we realized that we (ok, more like Kara, Ben, and Jeremy) got really burned from our Morro Bay adventures. Whoops!

Ben trying to "climb" Morro Rock:

The boys. I just love this series of them.

An old woodie (hehe) all refurbished.

A fun (and yummy) candy store!

Morro Rock and the surrounding bay is so beautiful!

That night my uncle and some of the cousins bar-b-qued and we all ate outside on grandma and grandpa's old deck. At the end of the night I had an emotional breakdown. Kara and Ben had left to drive back home of course and then I realized as we were driving away from the house, that this was the last time I would get to see that house. My mom, uncle, and aunt were actually in negotiations at that time with a possible buyer. It happened so fast. All my life I had hoped that they wouldn't sell the house when my grandma and grandpa passed. I somehow hoped that I'd find a way to be able to purchase it from the rest of the family. The location is perfect and I have always wanted to live in California. There was always this little voice in the back of my head saying "this is the way to own land!" But unfortunately, we don't have that kind of money. And no one asked us anyway. So I realized that I would never again get to see the house that I spent so many of my childhood summers. It was a sad night.

The next morning we got on the train and headed down to L.A. But I'll save that post for another day.