Allo San Diego (Zoo and Ocean Beach)

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So, took the overnight bus to San Diego via LA – my poor sleep schedule is so out of whack. Oh well. The bus station in Vegas was actually nice – they had a tv playing “Impractical Jokers” so the whole whack of us in line were killing ourselves laughing for an hour. Wish Canadian bus stations had tv...

Try as I might, I barely slept from Vegas to LA... it was 3am and still no dice, so I got maybe 30min to an hour. LA was pretty sleepy looking traffic-wise, but I guess 4am isn’t exactly prime travel time. Bus station in LA was less pleasant... whole bunch of very seedy looking characters along with a lot of (apparent) gangsters... so many tattoos and scars in one place. Two of them cut in-line... I didn’t argue.

I got stuck beside a surfer guy on the bus to San Diego, no complaints there... but of course this time I fell asleep for two hours.

The trek from the Station to my hostel was long but easy enough – I’m actually staying out in Ocean Beach, a western suburb of San Diego. The vibe here is really chill and just lovely. I’m literally a block away from the ocean, the street is lined with cool little shops, and around the corner is the bar area – close enough to be convenient, far enough that sound isn’t an issue. Poifect.

Considering how sleep deprived I am, I decided to go to the zoo so I only had one place to go today instead of exploring the city. The zoo was fun, of course... it had better be considering its reputation. It has wonderful exhibits and paths – the monkey trail for example you have to climb up to these higher ledges, so you’re pretty much walking at tree level through the zoo. One downside I suppose is the amount of uphill/downhill (the zoo is also on a giant hill to make it more interesting haha) but they do have some moving escalators which is cool! Could never have those somewhere you have snow lol.

The zoo was fun. Idk. I was a little disappointed I suppose because I expected it to be THE BEST considering its rep... but it was really nice. You can see the care they put into the exhibits and their animal care.

Some of my favs were the polar bears of course – I felt so bad for them though... I always feel bad for the polar bears when it’s warm. Fake ice does not do it. The panda exhibit was adorable – he was munching away on some bamboo and looked happy as a clam. The red pandas were bathing in the mist, full out sleeping off tree branches. The hyenas were randomly quite active for being the middle of the day. And the jaguar was adorable, all culred up and sleeping right at the window. Oh yes, and the meerkats were sunbathing, laying on their backs. Adorable x100.

The orangutans were the best though! I stood there for a good 30min watching them. A little guy and the male were up in the trees, just chilling, laying back against their ropes. Meanwhile, right by the glass two females were full out wrestling, in a fun non-kill each other way. It was adorable to watch – their mannerisms and all that. The two in the tree noticed them about 10min – the little one couldn’t be bothered, but the male sauntered on down. He stared at them for a minute then stole the blanket out from one of their bums and wandered back up to the trees to give it to the little guy. Cute.

On the way back to the hostel I found a Target – score. I did some shopping, did some groceries too, and good to go! The hostel was fun tonight too – beer pong tourny in the back and the Canadian crew won big, starting an amazing round of “O Canada” that was sung horribly haha. Oh well.

After I went to my room, I heard some of the crowd debating a Quebec referendum... wow that was sad to listen to haha. Oh people. Also, a sampling of what could be heard from the street before I went to bed: (singing) “I smoke two joints in the morning. I smoke two joints at night. And then I smoke. AHAHAHAHAHA” followed by “I got high hopes. HIIIIIIGH HOPES. SO HIGH”. And another guy, “right. Well. I’m drunk. *big thud*” and lastly, "You're a stoner dude. You bring society down. Down. Down on the floor" And with that, I'm off to bed haha.

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