One of the “must see” spots we wanted to hit was the Zoo. It was supposed to be one of the nicer zoo’s to see in the U.S. so to not go would just be silly. The Zoo opened at 9am and we were there right at that time. This zoo was gigantic. The entire layout felt as if you were taking a weird paved stroll through a jungle. It was really impressive. I found myself able to take some really awesome photos, close up. I’m not sure if its just a common thing, or maybe we were just lucky, but many of the animals were as close to us as they could possibly be.
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| These two were rough housing under water while we watched. |
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| Seeing this guy brought some mixed feelings about the zoo. These things are so human-like, that its hard not to look at them as slaves or prisoners. They did state several times while walking through the zoo, that these animals end up living way longer than they normally would in the wild, but still… |
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| Talking about the upcoming NFL draft… |
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| This was a site to see….the panda! With only like 1600 of these things left on this earth, getting to see the Panda was awesome. This panda was totally relaxed in his tree stump recliner eating some veggies in the sun, living it up. He was not as sad (or sad looking) as the orangutan. I could be wrong though…maybe the orangutan wasn’t sad at all. Maybe he was just as enthused as I’d be with people pointing at me while I tried enjoying lunch… |
For 40 bucks a ticket, the San Diego Zoo ended up being worth the trip. It was a gorgeous day, nice breeze, and great way to spend a few hours.
For lunch we headed back into the city to the Gas Lamp District, an area in the city loaded with shops, places to eat, and pubs. I had Nicole pick the lunch destination and she surprised me by picking a place that was right up my alley, the “Hopping Pig”. The Hopping Pig is a little place with an open front, some exposed brick, great taps, nice menu, and cool background music (I believe they played The Smiths the entire time we were there). Having driven, I only treated myself to one beer, Port Brewery’s Erasure IPA, which was solid. Nicole ordered the Short Ribs and I ordered the Yellow Tail.
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| The result of two awesomely prepared dishes! |
I was pretty happy Nicole found this place, as these are commonly the places I seek out when going out of town. Similar places to the “Blue Monk” in Buffalo, “Hop Leaf” in Chicago, and now I’ve had the pleasure of relaxing at “The Hopping Pig” in San Diego. Like Cube says….
