Lions, Tigers and Bears! And Finally, a Sunset!

Tuesday the 24th of May found me heading south to San Diego to visit the world famous San Diego Zoo. I decided to enjoy my exploration and chose not to take many photos (this is becoming a theme as I have only taken a little over 400 shots so far this trip and many of those are duplicates where I am playing with light levels and composition. That said, because the editing takes so long, I will create a special folder on this website focusing on this trip after I return to my home in Mt. Joy, PA in July. Until then, enjoy my cellphone pics and an occasional shot from my Canon.)

The zoo has an impressive number of aviaries.

My Mom and I enjoy watching birds and this zoo provided introductions to some amazing birds. Here is just one example - the Andean Cock-of-the-rocks!

You are also greeted when you enter the zoo with a flock of flamingos.

The zoo also had areas set up for reptiles, animals of Australia, Africa, the polar north, South America and of course local US animals. All were enclosed in areas that looked similar to their natural habitats. Overall - well done.

The zoo is vast and I also took a tram ride over the zoo as well as a bus ride through the zoo. Needless to say, I covered a lot of ground and saw many amazing things during my morning and early afternoon stroll.

Keeping with the theme of my journey, I headed to Cabrillo National Monument next to see the Point Loma Lighthouse and look down across the bay towards San Diego.

I also had wanted to visit the tidal pools but high tide prevented that from happening. As you can see from the Point Loma Shoreline shot, the waves were crashing in and the sun had yet to come from behind the clouds.

It was interesting watching the various Navy planes and helicopters doing maneuvers out in the bay. At the observation point where I took the bay shot, there were placards that identified and gave some information for the various types of airplanes, helicopters and boats/ships you might see.

Knowing what Southern California traffic is like, I decided to eat during rush hour and found a great little dockside seafood place to while away a couple of hours. Great food and conversation. I met a young lady in medical residency near Philadelphia taking a break in San Diego while attending and presenting at a Gastroenterology conference and preparing for her upcoming wedding. Small world! She and her future wife are both residents in the Philly area, she in surgery and her future wife in Cardio.

After an uneventful journey through the clouds and haze back to Oceanside, I relaxed and prepared for the next day just tooling around in Oceanside.

Wednesday, May 25th started much like the previous two days in Oceanside. The weather was mild (high 60's and very overcast. After taking care of some chores including taking a walk and finding the local post office, I set out to explore the Oceanside Pier and area. The pier is the 2nd longest in California.

While walking down the pier, I got to meet a couple of the local Brown Pelican neighbors.

After walking the length of the pier and back and somehow pulling a muscle in my calf!?

I gutted it out and decided to walk the beach, sticking my toes in the Pacific. Within two months, I was able to stick my toes in both the Atlantic and the Pacific!

After walking over a mile up the beach (or should I say slightly limping!,)

I came to the Oceanside boat basin. Lots of beautiful sailboats. At the end of my walk was a really good restaurant right on the water. so for the 2nd evening in a row, I could enjoy dinner wharfside!

While at dinner, the sun decided to appear for the first time in three days. So I walked the mile + back to my condo to retrieve my camera. I was finally going to get a sunset!

I decided to take advantage of the pier so I walked about another half mile down the coast and set up for the sun to set behind the pier. It was a beautiful evening and except for a small bank of clouds hiding the sun before it reached the pier, it still offered a picture perfect way to end a really nice day.