San Diego Zoo and Aquarium

I had never visited the San Diego Zoo before this trip to San Diego.  My good friend Sara made sure I got there.  Twice.  And also took me to the Scripps Aquarium.  I have never been to an aquarium before.  I was stoked to see so many cool animals and marine life.  And even more stoked that Mellisa was able to come out and join us Sunday afternoon at the zoo.  Woot!

Here are my favorite pics from the aquarium and my second trip to the zoo.  I hope you enjoy them all :)  And I couldn't start off without posting a pic of this sweet chunk of a baby.  I held him.  A lot.  :)

Okay, this isn't the aquarium or the zoo.  It is the mooring for boats next to the bridge into Coronado where we went for lunch one day.  My friend Sara's mom lives in one of those boats.  I can see it on google maps and it makes me smile almost as much as driving by in person.

This guy had the nappiest dreads hanging from his body.  I don't recall seeing such a dark brown camel, but he was just gorgeous.

I was initially pretty irritated with the fencing blocking my view of the flamingos, but it turned into bokeh in this pic.  So now I'm not irritated any more :)

I really wanted to grab his nubbies and pull on his ears.  He might have liked it as much as Little Horse loves for my to grab his snout and pull on his ears.  Maybe.

Palm trees make me happy.

We rode in the skybuckets from the back of the zoo to the front.  And then walked a ton more.

Mr. and Mrs. Birch were the founders of the Scripps Aquarium.  They were friends with Ted Geisel.  Dr. Seuss's drawings weren't too far from reality.  What a great inspiration for him to see these guys, some of which were kept in the Birch home.

LOVE the combination of the stripes and all the teeny tiny pin dots.

He's waiting to be triggered.

Who knew sardines were such scaredy cats?

This ginormous eel looks quite friendly and inviting, don't you think?

I loved these jelly fish.  I think I may need to print this off big.  I'm in love with the colors.

Last November, I stood on that far reach of land looking into the cove at the sea lions.  It was fun getting the opposite perspective this time.

Lionfish have the coolest fins.

I know my boy child would have loved this fish the best.  He is fascinated with mohawks and this looks like the longest one ever.

The sting rays have such happy faces.

This was an awesome room with floor-to-ceiling glass and bleacher-like seating to just sit and watch the many different kinds of fish in this tank.  Look near the bottom and you will notice some fish that liked to hang out vertically.  Strangeness.

And in the bottom left of this large tank was a little shark parking lot for the ones needing rest...

Octopi must prefer red lighting, because that's what was blasting away in this tank.

That is all for my weekend of photography and friends new and old.  I am taking another vacation day today from work and spending much of it at the torch.  I already have a couple dozen new beads soaking away in the kiln.  We will be back to our regularly scheduled programing of bead pics come tomorrow and a shop update this Saturday afternoon.