10-27-13

We went to San Francisco yesterday to visit with my daughter Gaby and her husband, Morgan.

We got to their house around 12:30

and visited for a while until we decided that it was time for lunch.
Morgan drove us to to a small Taco shop somewhere in the Mission District.

When I was a kid, living in the city, the Mission District was a mostly Mexican neighborhood. It is much more eclectic now but there still is a lot of good Mexican food available.

After lunch, Morgan drove us west, across town from the sunny and warm Mission District to the foggy and cool Sunset District. All the way to the edge of the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Zoo.

 

We spent the afternoon wandering among the captured wildlife in the zoo. 
As we were going in to the zoo, this girl was walking out. She was obviously made up for a Halloween party but whoever did the paint job was good.

 

Our first stop was at the Lemur area.
These were huddled together, sleeping.

Others were just sleeping.

Next were the monkeys. They were behind wire mesh and were hard to photograph.

Then we wandered by the Flamingo pond.

We saw this chimp that was in an area apparently all by himself. He looks a little lonely.

We went into a building that advertised Komodo Dragons.

This one was just a baby.

We stopped by to see the Koala but they were all sleeping.

With the fog swirling around this playground sure looks cold. Its all fake ice.

We continued on past the Kangaroos

and saw lots of different large birds.

Pelicans,

Emu,

Peacocks,

 

And this ancient Cassowary

and some I don’t know the names of.

These two Sea Lions are blind.

The zoo has been changing over the years. They are now housing injured and rescued animals as well as taking in animals that are free and healthy.

Next came the Bears.

First, the Polar Bears

and then the Grizzlies.

The zoo has a resident pair of Bald eagles.

There is a nice little steam train that runs through the area. Unfortunately we didn’t take the ride.

We walked passed Peccaries.
They look like Javelina’s to me. I guess they are related.

This is an Amazonian Capybara,

Here are some Penguins.

Then came the big guys.
I have seen a lot of pictures and videos of the wild life in Africa. But they never prepare you for the shier size of some of the African beasts.

Take this Rhino for instance.

He is about the size of an SUV and probably would out weigh one.

Next we came to this Baboon. I’ve seen videos of them  in packs, harassing tourists in their homeland and they don’t look that impressive on film.

This guy, sitting down was about four feet tall and appeared to weigh about 250 lbs. all mussel, claws and teeth.

Next are the Giraffes. They are bloody huge. This baby is at least 12 feet tall

and the adults are twice as large.

Then there was this venerable old gentleman taking his ease in a door way.

That was our day at the zoo.
It was kind of a trip down memory for me as I haven’t been to this zoo since I was about 9 years old.
That time I took home a baby chick and raised it as a pet. I also remembered that a monkey tried to steal my hat  back then.

From the zoo we went to the Spanish Cultural Center where we enjoyed some traditional Spanish cuisine.
The food was excellent.

Morgan and I shared a seafood Paella.

Patti and Gaby each had a chicken dish that they said it was wonderful.

We parted with Gaby and Morgan at the cultural center and headed for home. Of course we had to get lost at least once before we were able to escape the City.

We had a great visit with Gaby and Morgan. They are a lot of fun and really know the city.