A trip to the zoo...

The San Diego Zoo is a city landmark.  Developed in 1915 (another of the incredible 1915 San Diego Expo initiatives), the zoo pioneered the concept of the open-air "cage" in an attempt to recreate the animals' natural habitats as closely as possible.

Visiting the zoo with Duncan was a great way to see this key place in San Diego.  Duncan had a genuine enthusiasm for the monkeys and although he also found delight in activities such as picking seed buds out of the drains nearby, he showed a contagious enthusiasm and curiosity about the different animals and habitats.

As the zoo is so large, we were told that the best way to see it was via the bus tour, which takes you to almost 85% of the zoo.  As such, after strolling through the monkeys, gorillas and bird sanctuaries, we headed over to the bus depot to hop on the tour.

We clearly had the same idea as many others and so waited in line for almost an hour to get onto the bus.  In retrospect, we probably could have walked the zoo in almost that amount of time!  Creative Duncan, however, found a good way to pass the time, stretching himself out on the pavement to play with his trains.  He somehow slithered along the ground as we moved forward, helping to keep the line progressing without delay.  He was incredibly patient throughout when even Beth started to begin losing her patience about the long lines.  Perhaps she should have played with some trains too...

Sadly, the wait was likely not worth it, with the bus ride being less than inspired.  One side of the bus was clearly the right side to sit, showcasing almost all of the wildlife while the other side had very frequent views of the nearby highway and storage sheds.  Nonetheless, there was a redeeming feature of sitting on the "sub-optimal" side - getting to see the three polar bears run out of their resting spot and plunge into the cold water nearby.

Although the bus tour was a little disappointing, we were impressed with the layout of the zoo and the attempt to create more natural habitats for the wildlife.  We were also impressed at the number of volunteers onsite who were anxious to help you find your way and tell you more about the animals.  In fact, many of the volunteers spoke eloquently about the endangered animals and actually gave tips on how you could help save these animals simply through making better purchasing decisions.  This, equipped with a pamphlet outlining these ideas, made you feel like the zoo was genuinely interested in the well-being of these amazing animals.

Our final stop at the zoo was to visit the pandas.  They were smaller than we had imagined but no less adorable and they sat comfortably munching on their bamboo shoots while a long row of visitors wandered by to take a look.

Although we have mixed feelings about zoos, we really enjoyed our visit to this one and hope that they can make an important impact in protecting these endangered animals.