Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Day 14. San Diego Zoo and Venice Beach

















































































































































































































































































































































































































































We left La Jolla and headed down to the San Diego Zoo. We started with the overview bus tour to get our bearings and it is a good thing we did as it is a little confusing getting around. We enjoyed walking throughout the zoo and seeing the many animals and botanical specimens. It was very hot and that began to take its toll on us as the morning progressed. The zoo has several steep inclines and handling those in the heat finally became draining. They did have some people movers (escalators) that we made use of 2 times but we were on human power other than that. The photos include a panther, a mountain lion that actually posed for us, elephants, an anteater with baby on her back, wallaby, snoozing koalas, giraffes ( I won't tell the story behind the one pic), meerkats, condors, polar bears, a green tree snake, pandas, zebras, etc. We gave up on the zoo earlier than planned since we were wiped out from the heat, climbing, and walking. We traveled north and visited Venice Beach. Definitely an area that is accepting of all manner of expression. While Tony wanted to have dinner somewhere on the boardwalk, I was very uncomfortable with the cleanliness of the eateries. So, we figured we would drive further north and visit Pasadena and catch dinner there. Unfortunately, we hit traffic no matter which freeway we were on so we ended up grabbing fast food and eating in the hotel room. We ultimately ended up relieved that we did not go to a local restaurant. Tomorrow is supposed to be equally hot so we decided not to go to the Wildlife Park. We will head into LA instead before heading further north so we can hook up with Anthony again. He will be traveling with us for a few days.
The driving in California is absolutely crazy. Drivers weave wrecklessly in and out, they make 90 degree lane changes, cut other drivers off at will and without the benefit of directional signals, and the motorcycle drivers invent their own lanes. It is insane the way the motorcycles pass you in your own lane at ridiculously high speeds. Appparently, motorcycle drivers should not have to sit in traffic with the rest of the population.

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