Daddy's Taking Us to the Zoo Tomorrow...

Love that old PP&M song. We went to the zoo today. The San Diego Zoo is marvelous! Located in Balboa Park, the zoo was founded in the 1800's and totally modern today. Animals are housed in natural habitats that encourage them to live as they would in the wild.

Hyrax - cousin to elephant 

We arrived, parked and took a double decker bus tour around the grounds to get oriented. Then we walked and walked to see as many animals as possible. The zoo is physically beautiful with abundant foliage representing the different areas of the globe.

 The panda zone has lots of bamboo and they feed it to the beautiful creatures. We saw only one large female panda, but she was a beauty.

There are many aviaries and we went through a few seeing colorful and interesting birds. Saw a condor and some type of eagle.

Two goat/sheep creatures.

Lots of monkeys 🐒 of all shapes and sizes including orangutans and gorillas.

Polar bear and tiger and sleeping 🦁.

Aquatic animals are here too and we saw penguins, a baby hippo with mom, flamingos, a crocodile and so many ducks who are birds and swimmers.

We ended the day in a bird/hummingbird sanctuary with some vibrant varieties.

Spent the evening having dinner and watching Jeopardy. A good day.

California Dreaming

Friday in San Diego is another beautiful day. Marty and I got up early (ish) and walked at the lake. We met several of her friends there and enjoyed talking as we walked over the dam going in the other direction from yesterday. Afterwards we all met at Starbucks where we sat outside and swapped stories. Really nice and interesting ladies.

We had a lunch date today with Barbara, a friend we had met in Panama last year. She is a lovely lady who had lived in Boquete for several years with her late husband. We met her on both our trips and had enjoyed her company. Recently she moved to San Diego to be near her family. We met up at a restaurant called  Snooze in a huge, shopping center near to the coast. Makes me so jealous as we have nothing like this at home, but we don’t have the traffic either. I tried the house specialty - sweet potato buttermilk pancakes with roasted pecans and carmelized ginger syrup. Really, really good. A special treat since we are on vacation.

Now we are home, sitting on the shady patio and awaiting our next activity. Just before 5:00 we headed to a pre-theatre party from Marty's women’s club. It was held at a large, tasteful home high in the hills. Many interesting and friendly people and good food made a lovely party. We sat outside and talked and shared stories. Then we all headed to the Scripps Ranch Theatre. The play is titled For Better and a very interesting show. All about relationships during the digital age. The actors spent most of the show using their cell phones to deliver their lines. We enjoyed the play and the performances.

Back at home we are watching the news and thinking about tomorrow's activities.

California Here I Come...

Wednesday morning we flew out of Savannah to Atlanta and then to San Diego. Great flight getting us in a half hour early. Watched two movies, Lady Bird and I Tonya. Marty and Allan picked us up and drove us to their home in Scripps Ranch. This is an area of San Diego with beautiful homes, landscapes and canyons. We have not been here since 2006 when we had arrived in our RV. A long time between visits.After eating dinner at home we reminisced and sat up late talking. We have been friends since the early 1970’s.

Thursday we woke up to a cool, sunny day. Marty and I drove to Scripps Lake with a five mile paved road around it for walking, biking and lots of dogs getting exercise. It is a natural area lined with abundant foliage, trees, shrubs, palms and cacti.

Blue Gray Gnatcatcher

Western Kingbird?

We saw and heard many birds. Great views of homes on the hillsides and the lake below.

 We walked three miles and then headed to Starbucks for Chai Latte Teas. Sitting outside we talked some more and enjoyed the refreshing, no humidity, weather.

Back at home, the boys are up and it is time for lunch.

After we eat, rest, nap and get ready to go to dinner and the theatre. It is a nice drive to LaJolla which is east of Scripps Ranch and still part of the city of San Diego. We parked near the ocean and walked along the beach seeing seals, sea lions and lots of squirrels.

At the children's beach there are seals and sea lions lying on the sand and swimming. More of them are in the ocean along with a few surfers and kayakers. Pelicans and cormorants are on the rocks and in the water. It is very sunny which makes it hard to take pictures with an iPhone.

Time to eat and we drive up to the main business street and park. George's is a favorite place for our friends and we have been there twice before. We are seated up on the roof overlooking the Pacific. The tables are small and partly in the sun. Food is amazing which makes up for everything else. Jeff and I shared a Caesar salad and then both had the best salmon! It was grilled with a pesto aioli combination on top. Came with creamy risotto and fava beans which I really enjoyed. The beans make me think of Silence of the Lambs with Anthony Hopkins.

Now it is time to go to the theatre on the campus of the University of California, San Diego. We park and walk to the three theatre complex. We all were sitting in the lobby until we realized we were at the wrong place and hurried over to the correct theatre. The show, Squirrels, is new and this is preview week for the premiere. The set is stark and resembles a futuristic tree made of pipes.

The actors are amazing and not only deliver their lines well, but actually move and act like squirrels. All the props are oversized so they are in relation to the human size and real acorns would be to a squirrel. Costumes were so creative with big squirrel tails, bottoms and feet. The tops for each character defined their status. So clever!

We all loved the show and found it to be so timely and political. I likened it to reading Animal House where it could be a story about a farm, or digging deeper, a satire about politics. This is the same and so well done. The entire audience laughed and applauded wildly at the conclusion.

Back home and to bed after a busy day.

These Boots are Made for Walking

March 14 - School Walkout Day. I am so proud of the students at Bluffton High School who showed respect and courage by walking out of their school today in solidarity with students across the USA. They stood unified against the recent murders of 17 students in Parkland, and all school shootings beginning with Columbine. Against the wishes of their Superintendent of Schools, they nevertheless left the building and crossed the street to cheers from a group of supporting adults. Happily our local mayor was there and a few Sheriff's Deputies who were quietly keeping watch.

At 10:00 a few students emerged from the building to cheers and then more in drips and drabs. Many were in shorts and tee shirts on this very cold day. A few signs held by students and adults helped the spirit of the rally. A student read the names and ages of each of the Parkland victims to the silent group.

So proud to have participated today. In the large cities and small towns of America, people are showing up and speaking out. We need to protect our students. Schools are a place of learning and growing. A safe sanctuary.