Wednesday, February 29, 2012

San Diego Zoo

I was invited to speak at the Biophysical Society Meeting in San Diego. The meeting was OK, but I snuck away for a couple hours one afternoon to visit the San Diego Zoo. It was a real blast from the past. We used to live in the San Diego area when the boys were small. Even though we have been gone 12 years I still felt like it was only yesterday when we we would push the boys around that zoo in the double stroller. Beautiful zoo, nice day. And with lots of glass enclosures, You can get very close to the animals. The highlight of the zoo is probably the pandas. They have 3 and a very successful breading program.



I love the colorful plants and even flowers that are to be seen at the zoo in late winter.



This orangutang was interacting with some young children. Right up against the glass. Its tough to get a nice picture without much reflection.



The same is true for the gorillas. They were right up against the glass. Felt like part of the group.



You could tell they were looking right back at you.



Overall they looked a bit bored.



Another neat area was the polar bear plunge. This bear was beautiful.



For lunch one day I grabbed a sandwich and went to a park where they have an aircraft carrier that has been converted into a museum. They have converted the famous return from war picture into a giant color statue. It was very interesting.

Saturday, February 25, 2012