A Day at the Zoo

I have been an enthusiastic visitor of the San Diego Zoo since the 70s. It has definitely evolved over time and is not just world famous but a world class zoological park. I spent Sunday at the zoo and although I was there from 10:30 to 3pm, I still not get to see everything.

As you can see it was a beautiful day at the zoo

Here is a brief retrospect of some of the gardens you’ll see throughout the zoo...

A Garden Festival is scheduled May 7-9 to coincide with Mother's Day where you will learn the secrets to the zoo's beautiful gardens.

A beautiful sculpture seeking shade under the canopy of a gorgeous tree

Skyfari offers spectacular views of the zoo and surrounding Balboa Park

The California Tower and dome houses the San Diego Museum of Man in Balboa Park. The Zoo is one of many attractions at Balboa Park.

A waterfall in the Gorilla exhibit

Waterfall in the Scripps Aviary

Yee-ouch! Be sure not to take these home as a souvenir!

Gorgeous little pond with ducks if you look close enough!

Hope you enjoyed your all too brief tour of the gardens of the San Diego Zoo. There really is much more and I wish I had taken more pictures.

Stay tuned as I'll be back next week with the animals of the San Diego Zoo. Here's a preview:

Have a great day!

Two rockin' reviews for you to consider....

A weekend trip to the local Blockbuster produced two videos, I mean DVDs. For some reason I still call these things videos, WHY? One was a movie I had wanted to see when it came out but didn’t, Sherlock Holmes, and the other was one I wanted to see but decided I could wait, 2012.

2012

My sister had seen 2012 and did not care for it. She found it a little too long and a little too tedious. I can only tell you I found it thrilling. It was like Airport, The Poseidon Adventure, and Earthquake all rolled into one. But I must make a confession right off the bat, I love disaster movies. Yes, file it under guilty pleasures but I do love a good disaster flick!

Love John Cusack!

The Rockies may crumble, Gibraltar may tumble...meanwhile there's Los Angeles!

Imagine this; it’s the end of the world as we know it…again. But, as I write this, the Icelandic volcano has been spewing for a few days, and it was only recently that I experienced the 7.2 earthquake in San Diego. Which is it, life imitating art or art imitating life? While watching the roads of SoCal being ripped up in the movie, houses and corporate steel and glass canyons crumbling, the sight of California sliding into the ocean seemed a little too unreal - wait - make that too real. Thankfully, it was just a movie but like that old commercial, was that real or was it Memorex? My sister was right though the movie was a little too long and a little too tedious; still, I lived to tell the tale. I give it 4 popcorn tubs!

Sherlock Holmes

This is not your Basil Rathbone Sherlock Holmes of the 40’s! It’s not even the Jeremy Brett version on PBS. No, it’s a totally different spin on previous adaptations of the iconic sleuth. If you ever thought of Sherlock Holmes as an action hero and Dr. Watson as, well, dashing, then this rock and roll version of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s literary character is for you. For myself, I found it rather dull and a little boring. What I did like, and what did survive, was the relationship between Holmes and Watson.

Never thought of Dr. Watson as dashing but played by Jude Law he is!

You may have thought the movie was in color but I found it to be shot in shades of black and grey the only color being Irene Adler’s red dress. The movie did not hold up for me but being a diehard Holmes fan, I will be anticipating the sequel. I hope Professor Moriarty is in it, he might liven things up. In the meantime, I can't decide if this film is rated 2 or 3 popcorn tubs.

Any movie rentals you think I should see? Have a great week!

I feel the earth move!

I FELT the earth move under my feet…honest! Carol King has nothing on me!

I’ve experienced earthquakes in Hawaii, Japan, and of course California, but not one as huge as 7.2! In California it is a common occurance although most are so slight chances are you may not even feel it. For some reason I often feel them when I am in bed but the tremblers are so slight it's not worth getting out of bed for! Not that I take them for granted, I have a healthy respect for Mother Nature. I have been through hurricanes, volcanoes, horrible California fires and tsunamis and trust me, it can be quite frightening.

Imagine this, a peaceful Easter Sunday afternoon, time 3:40pm, I was watching a great movie but was tired and was actually starting to snooze when I felt a gentle rocking motion. I thought it was the dog moving around trying to get comfortable. Well, it wasn’t the dog, she was asleep on her own bed, and that’s when I realized it was an earthquake. The gentle motion, became more forceful, I heard a big bang from the bathroom, the mirror had fallen down. I stood up and the rocking became intense, the light fixture was swaying and I was officially scared! It was the longest, most violent earthquake I have ever felt. I believe it was timed at 45 seconds but it was intense and seemed like it would never stop.

NBC News Report

We are still experiencing aftershocks. Some people reported that they felt some trembling this morning, one week later, though I did not. San Diego was lucky that there was minimal damage considering what has happened in other parts of the world.

Here's a video of a San Diego student who was getting ready to record a song when all of a sudden....

Batten down the hatches and stay safe everyone!