San Diego Zoo

People cruising from San Diego should plan to spend at least a couple of days exploring that wonderful city before their cruise, including a visit to the world famous San Diego Zoo, which truly earns its acclaim.  It is only a short taxi ride from the port to the Zoo, and while you're in the area, you can also visit the museums at Balboa Park next door.

The Zoo is a great place for kids of all ages, but I guess that is stating the obvious.  Adults will love it too.



When my children were small and my family lived in San Diego, we had annual passes for the San Diego Zoo, which included admission to the San Diego Wild Animal Park.

Our children grew up with an appreciation of nature and love of animals. With annual passes and free parking (parking is still free!), we didn't have to make it a long day. We'd pack a snack and head to the Zoo to spend a couple of hours and just see a few exhibits.

Now that we live in L.A. County and my youngest daughter Amy is about to graduate from college (a year early), I have to say I can't remember the last time I went to the Zoo prior to Saturday.

My daughter Gina made plans to bring my graddaughter Emma to meet her cousins Kendra and Kelsey, along with Kelsey's son Lucas, at the Zoo, and Julie and I were happy to drive them there and go along.

We enjoyed a wonderful day. With cell phones and texting, we had no trouble meeting up with the cousins despite being about an hour late.

The San Diego Zoo is one of four zoos in the U.S. currently displaying large pandas (the others being Memphis, Atlanta and Washington D.C.), but the highlights for Emma were the elephants and the monkeys.

In the monkey section, the big kid that is me liked the Mandrill best. This huge ape would be recognizable as anyone who has seen "The Lion King" as Rafiki, the ape that annoints the baby Simba, but his face is much more brightly colored in real life than I would have imagined.



After the Zoo, we met Gina's brother-in-law Szilard who had been visiting with his mother Ria at the Urban Grind, a coffee house in Hillcrest. Everyone seemed to enjoy their food, which was attractively presented. Julie and I only split a delicious, sugarfree Caramel Sutra cappuchino served in an oversized cup like you might find in France.