San Diego Day 7

Thursday, we spent the majority of the day at the San Diego Zoo.  It was a very fun day, although I must give a shout out to our local Asheboro Zoo... Chad and I both agreed that the Asheboro zoo is every bit as large and impressive and the San Diego Zoo!  We started out with a skyfari ride across the zoo 30 feet up in the air.  That was fun and gave us an idea of where things were.  The next stop was a bus tour around the zoo which gave us a glimpse at many of the animals and let us know what we wanted to see up close.  I know most of you have seen these animals, but I'll have to show you our favorite pictures anyway!

A black bear chewing on a beef thigh... appetizing huh?

Cool stripes!

Meerkat Manor anyone?

Nathan's favorite... the giraffe

My favorite Giraffe

Did you know that these guys can live for 85 years and they mate for life?

Armor plated rhinos... I can't imagine trying to keep those cracks and crevices clean!

If you've seen Princess Bride, these are the "rodents of unusual size".  They actually do exist!

We went to a sea lion show and before we met Sammy the Sea Lion, we first had to meet this Australian Condor.  His wing span is 8 feet and during the show he flew right over our heads.  I probably could have touched him if I wasn't so afraid he'd claw my head.  He was ENORMOUS and when he flew over the swooshing sound of his wings was so intimidating!

At the sea lion show, we also met a domesticated grey wolf... and how do you domesticate such a prey driven animal?

Pair him up as a pup with a domestic dog.  Yep, these two are best friends.  Crazy.  I was still afraid of the wolf though.

Here's the sea lion... and the kid that the sea lion kissed!

I loved watching the monkeys!

Chad and I's favorite part was the hippo area.  They were in an enclosure with a glass front and I've never seen hippos through glass that close up.  THEY WERE ENORMOUS!  5000 pounds.  The largest animals in the zoo.  Hippos kill more people each year across Africa than Lions, Tigers,rhinos, and Elephants combined.  They were very agile in the water despite their size, and were very interesting to watch.