California Day 4

5/21/24

Whew today was a long day and my legs hurt from all the walking, but it was good.  We left the AirBnb around 6 AM to head down the 2.5 hours to San Diego.  It was an uneventful trip, but stressful as they literally have o less than 5 lanes of traffic at one time and sometimes 9 - that is one way; so double it to get the full size of the highway.  Insanity, but overall we were against the flow of traffic, got to use the HOV lane, and generally had a good trip.

Upon arriving in San Diego at 8:45 we stopped at Snooze to grab breakfast.   It was good but I wish I had skipped the pancakes for eggs, bacon, etc...   They were flavored, which sounded good and we did the variety where you could try 1 of each, but all of them had sweet toppings that were a bit too much for me.  However, the OJ was fresh, the coffee was good and the service was great.  We were able to sit outside and the area was really nice.   San Diego is so clean... I mean wow!   Maybe I'm looking through a weird lens given how dirty LA is but ... it's nice.

We then headed to the Zoo.  The San Diego Zoo is known to be the best in the world and our expectations were high.   It is just a zoo.... very similar to Atlanta actually.   It was nice and we had a good time, but I'm not really sure what we expected to be different, but we did.   We stayed about 3 hours which was good but an expensive 3-hour visit... tickets are ~70ish per person and we rented a scooter for Mama due to the hills/heat/etc...  I'm grateful for the scooter as she was struggling a bit today + watching her navigate with it was entertainment in itself.

At the zoo, we took the trolly tour for the first 30-40 minutes and were able to see some animals we wouldn't have gotten to see, but the people did scare me.   I asked them to let Mama sit while we waited in line and they carried her to the front in a seating area.  Well, when I got about 1/2 way to the front I could see it.... and she wasn't there.   They had waved her on and let her sit down on the bus... Thank the good Lord I noticed or she would have been on one and we would have been on another.  He was looking out for us and they allowed us to go ahead and board with her.

We then saw mainly the monkey area... the zoo is huge and it's part of Balboa Park so... no way we could have seen it all.  The entire zoo is a botanical garden as well, which was neat.  Fun memories of the animals:

• Chimpanzees hide from the sun under blankets and roll around in them
• Bamboons chasing each other
• Little rat-type things having sex and some guy saying he gets more than me
• Gorilla's watching a lady's video on her phone through glass and then throwing dirt and playing with her.

We then went to Balboa central area and I dropped them off to get a table at a restaurant while I parked.  I ended up parking about 1/2 mile away and walking back with Mama's walker which was comical because people kept looking at me as I was keeping a fairly fast pace.  That walker is awesome, not only for her but we carry our stuff which is great!  I had it loaded with her O2, jackets, camera bag, water...etc...

We ate lunch overlooking a pond, some sculptures, and two very pretty buildings.   It was nice and relaxing.  A duck kept jumping in and out of the pond which was entertaining.

We then meandered around a bit and looked at the buildings, a pond/garden area, and a rose garden that was amazing.   By this time Mama needed a pain pill and honestly, all of us were tired so we left her at the rose garden and went back to get the car for her.  

Once we collected her we did some essentials before driving down to the bay area and just stopping a few times for pictures of the sailboats and the USS Midway that was in dock.  I love the cleanliness of San Diego... it's just well amazing.  I'd like to maybe come back and spend some more time here.  

We then booked it home -Jack drove and I slept at least 1/2 of it.     We got cereal at the local market for dinner and everyone wanted to go to bed early.   Super long day, but good!

Jack's favorite thing today: He linked the roses.  He also enjoyed the baboons chasing each other, the murkats who were super cute, and the gorilla who kept rolling around and throwing dirt.