There and back again...

---

Here we sit.... back in the LBC. This morning we awoke at 7:45 only to grumble and shrink under our many covers. After 15 minutes we got up, brushed our teeth, and dragged ourselves out of the hotel to a local Starbucks. We sipped vanilla lattes and munched on some baked goods before heading back to the hotel and proceeding to checkout.

We drove to the famous San Diego Zoo and parked in the giraffe section(ie section 3). We bought normal admission tickets and decided to freely roam the park without a specific destination. We started at the flamingo lagoon and moved on to the many many different monkeys (who sit just like Mari). We saw almost everything the zoo had to offer us, highlights being:
The Red Panda (also known as the Western Lesser Panda.... how mean is that?!?!)
The everyday old fashioned ADORABLE pandas
The wise old elephants
The graceful friendly giraffes
Zoe's Zebras (as a dad exclaimed to his daughter while we walked by. Coincidence? We think not...)
The cuddly koalas
The plunging polar bears
a hyena that looked like Michael Katz
and this little boy with tiger facepaint

After our second cup of coffee, we aimlessly roamed around a bit more before deciding to depart. The drive home was quick and peaceful. We were and currently are exhausted but thoroughly enjoyed this whirlwind adventure!

Mari departs for Dublin in 3 days and Zoe plans to stay at home crying.... and rolling her collection of coins to submit to the bank...

---