Big 10 Football Tour

Easily the number one attraction that you hear of in San Diego is the zoo.  It may not be the biggest, and it may not always be considered the best, but it definitely has some interesting charm to it.  If nothing else, get yourself to the front of it and take a photo with the elephant shrubs.

One of the first things we saw was the younger hippos roaming around on land.  I wondered why they were not also enjoying the water as their parents were.  I quickly learned why as I went to the underwater viewing area; the parents were dropping some "dueces" in the pool.

The biggest, or most famous attraction is the Giant Pandas.  The Panda Bear is one animal that you won't see in most zoos around America.  Everyone was so adamant to see the Pandas, that zoo guests had to wait in a 20 minute line (on a slow day) just to get a few of them.  Luckily the pandas did some great poses while I was there! 

And no, the zoo doesn't spare a moment in trying to make a few dimes on the Pandas, as there is an entire merchandise house dedicated to the Pandas!  I imagine that many kids get upset here because they got their souveneir at the giraffe stand.

Probably the most entertaining part of the visit is the gorillas or orangutans or apes or monkeys or whatever they are.  They seem to know exactly what is going on and constantly pose for the camera.

The elephants are interesting due to their sheer size, but they rarely do anything entertaining.  The SD Zoo has some massive grounds for the elephants, so it's tough to get relatively close to them.

Next up, the five of six giraffes that you can see at the SD Zoo.  All eyes were on the baby giraffe as it knew the wild to be nothing more than leaving the indoor cages.

I can't think of anywhere that a polar bear would rather be than in the 70 degrees of the San Diego Zoo.  The least they could do is put some fake igloos around the cage.

The Australian habitat allowed us to see some more animals that eat bamboo leaves.  Each koala bear had its own personal tree and there were literally 10-12 of them doing one of two things: 1) eating or 2) sleeping.

You have to emphatize with the tough decision that the zoo staff faced with the lion.  On one hand, they could allow the public to get close enough to get a good look at the lion.  On the other hand, I don't know too many people who enjoy being sprayed with lion urine!

At every zoo, there is your token birds that no one is truely interested in.  You rarely get close enought to see them and they rarely do anything but make obnoxiuos noises.  I'm sure however that they add to the zoo's "medal count" with a relatively inexpensive count.

Of course you anticipate the cost of a plush animal or tshirt when you visit the zoo, but you're rarely ready for the $4.00 bottled water.

Although the weather temporarily became a bit more gloomy, we paid a visit to Balboa Park.  I don't know how to really describe the place other than lots of multi-cultural influences, museums, public gatherings, great art, and some interesting architecture.  The place is really beautiful when all of the flowers are in bloom from April through October, so other times aren't too shabby either. 

When you first get to Balboa, drive around a bit to find an appropriate landing spot.  Once you find something that you want to see in more detail, park close to it and then check it out; otherwise you'll spend hours roaming around.

It seemed that Dr. Suess had quite the influence on San Diego during our visit as we were reminded of his work everywhere we went.   You would not believe some of the prices on his artwork throughout the city.

Make sure to take a walk through the cultural village during your visit.  There are many miniature "huts" occupied by different nationalities from around the world.  You'll meet people from Norway, Poland, Ireland, etc.

The final stop of the day was at "Old Town."  I would rate this as the most pleasant surprise of my trip.  I was expecting a bunch of boring antiques and some lame traditions, but there is literally all sorts of entertaining options here.

If nothing else, try to eat all 3 meals of a given day in Old Town.  The food is absolutely unbelievable!  Two months after this trip, I'm still struggling to eat Mexican food because the cuisine in Old Town spoiled me.  Rather than a miniscule little cup of salsa, they have entire jugs for you to use at your leisure.  The varieties of everything, including soda is unprecendented.

From the outside, many of the shops don't look too appealing, but you'll find many treasures inside that you just can't find at your local Wal-Mart. 

They allow you to make your own coffee, make your own candles, make your own candy bag, and other things that we're probably better off letting someone make for us.

So take some time to visit Old Town and give yourself an entire day to check it all out!