It's a zoo out here!

Kate and I had both previously been to the San Diego Zoo, but we had never been here together. My last time here was in August 1998 with my brother, Adam. Kate was last here in July 2005 by herself, on what she described as "the hottest day that entire summer." Today was a completely different experience since the weather was beautiful (albeit a bit on the brisk side) for a day in the zoo. There were no lines, and the $8 discount coupon made it cheaper to get the "Best Value Ticket" package compared to a plain admission.

Much of the zoo was as I remembered it. We especially enjoyed the polar bears, the giant pandas, and the koalas. There wasn't much activity in the koala paddock, but they were cute to look at nonetheless.

We took advantage of a photo opportunity afforded by this shiny metallic polar bear sculpture. A nice Australian woman from Sydney took our picture.

Panda trivia: did you know that pandas in the wild poop (Kate's word choice) up to thirty times a day due to their highly fibrous bamboo diet? This was news to us...


To finish the day at the zoo, we saw the sea lion show, which was quite good. The highlight was a sea lion dancing to Jennifer Lopez's "Let's Get Loud." The conga line with the trainer and the sea lion was a show stopper.

We finished out our evening at Pick Up Stix, a great Chinese restaurant chain that doesn't exist on the east coast. I wouldn't call it "fast food," since each order is cooked on demand, but it was reasonable, and tasty, and the staff at the Poway store was especially friendly.