11/3 San Diego Zoo

Been getting really lazy about posting, but here are some photos of my trip to the zoo.  I had been there a couple of years ago, but it was horribly crowded with kids on spring break.  This time it was much nicer because crowds were very small.  Even with small crowds, I probably saw only about 1/4 of the zoo because I took my time and enjoyed what I was seeing. 

The zoo really is a very big place.

First thing was to take a double-decker bus tour.  Could not see much because of all the shrubbery, but it gave me an idea where I wanted to go. 

 These giraff were hoping for some more browse in their feeder because they had eaten all the leaves already.

These guys must have been recently fed. 

Twenty years ago, I was here when Polar Bear Plunge opened.  They were passing out coupons that were good for the Safari Park but you had to go that same day. It was exhausting, but I did it.  

This guy was lazily munching on carrots, but not making an effort to actually reach very far for them.

Their pond showed the results of earlier feedings.  They toss some carrots into the pond to encourage these lazy bears to get off their rumps and swim. 

 Nice chart showing the kinds of zebras.

 

Can you tell from the rear what kind of zebra this is?

I watched these noisy chicks beg for food and get fed for quite a while. 

Two nests and about six chicks made this a very noisy part of the zoo. 

Bai Yun is the original San Diego Zoo panda and mother to several young.  She is 26-years-old and too old to breed, so she is just enjoying life without all those kids she raised.  

Daughter Xiao Liwu is next door, but since pandas are solitary, they do not spend time together.

There are two large bird aviaries, and I enjoyed watching the birds for a while.  Like I say, I move slowly. 

This was a real highlight of my visit.  This man had taken photos of the gorillas with his iPad and was showing them to the three male gorillas in this area.  They each watched for a quite a while.  Guess everyone enjoys seeing photos of relatives.  (They are brothers.)

There were some bonobos nearby.  These are the chimps that make love instead of war.  These were all females. 

 Anyway, the weather was perfect for a day at the zoo, so I enjoyed myself and then headed home.  Will come back sometime again.
 

11/2 USS Midway

Sorry, but I am getting really lazy about posting.  One thing is that I have been really busy in San Diego doing some minor maintenance and having lunch with friends.  Being retired, or at least mostly, retired is a lot of work!

On this day, I went into the harbor area to tour the Midway.  It was launched in 1945 and retired in 1992.  I took a lot of photos, so I think I am going to be judicious in which ones I show.  One nice thing about this day was that is was not crowded at all, which meant no lines and no problems seeing all the parts of the ship. 

Not only is the ship itself a museum, but they have a lot of planes on and in the ship as part of the display. 

The big inside hangers where planes were stored is now a museum and, of course, a gift shop.  Can't have a museum without a gift shop.  

One of the advantages of being here off-season was the ability to take a tour of the control island.  No lines at all.

A lot of equipment, but considering it was mostly WWII era stuff, it looks pretty ancient. 

And it still had a real ship's wheel that is not much changed from sailing ships.  Amazing.

The captain had two cabins.  This was the one nearest the controls. 

Nice view of downtown San Diego.

There were very realistic-looking manikins throughout the ship to give it realism.  This guy was supposed to be the chaplain.

The captain's other cabin. 

 A radio room nearby.  Check out the old computer.

Officer's dining room. 

The whole tour took me about 3 hours, but I spent a lot of time sitting on deck and enjoying the San Diego breeze and weather.

10/29 Cabrillo National Monument, San Diego

It looked like it was going to be a sunny afternoon, so I headed out to one of my favorite places in San Diego--the Cabrillo National Monument at the end of the peninsula that forms the San Diego Harbor, without which, the city would not exist.

You have to drive through the naval base to get to the tip of the Point Loma peninsula, but there is lots of parking and a visitor center at the end.  You can see that when I arrived, the fog was still hanging over everything.  This view is to the west, over the ocean.

The arrow shows where the monument is located. 

 Some really nice views of downtown San Diego.

Just past the visitor center is the old Point Loma lighthouse.  

Looking down the bluff toward the ocean.  Not sure what this building is for.  Oops, maybe just the restrooms!  Thought it was historic, but I guess not. 

This is a third-order Fresnel lens used at the lighthouse. 

As was common in a lot of lighthouses, the keepers had to mostly depend on rainwater.  This cement catchment area drained into large tanks at the far corner. 

There are some tide pools down here, but I was too tired to drive down.  Will try to do it on the weekend.  You can see that the fog is lifting and the sun shining through. 

Interesting photo of the sun behind the lifting fog bank. 

Had to use my telephoto lens to take a photo of this newer lighthouse down at the bottom of the bluff.