So only 9 days after going to the zoo for the first time, we headed back with our memberships in hand. We still had about half the animals left to see and wanted to see some of the others again like the polar bears and the hippos. We arrived around lunch time and took the air tram across the park and began working our way back to the front. We started with the polar bears and gazelles. If only they knew they were so close to each other. The line for the pandas was huge so we didn't get to see them again, but instead got to spend our time with the meerkats, elephants, and giraffes. We went back to the hippos, and met some camels on the way. I was wicked excited about the large cats but it was hot out so they were all sleeping and we couldn't see most of them. We spend a nice long exhausting day at the zoo for almost 6 hours. The pictures for those are right here. --> San Diego Zoo: Part II.
A few days later we finally got to go visit the USS Midway. I learned about it really early in the summer and after numerous attempts to go we finally got our act together and went. The Midway is a retired Aircraft carrier that was built in 1945 and active in almost every US war since. It was stationed in Japan for 17 years but now resides permanently in San Diego harbor as a museum. It became a museum in 2004. The Midway has numerous helicopters, airplanes, and jets you can check out on their self guided audio tour. Plus you get to go down into the ship's bowels and see how the officers and enlisted men slept, ate, lived, and worked. You can see a clear hierarchy between the enlisted men, and even among the different levels of officers in terms of where they ate, the quality of their food, how much space they had to sleep, and where they got to spend their down time. Most of the ceilings were about 6 feet high which made things interesting as I had to crouch everywhere I went. It was really cool to see though and I'm glad we got to go. The pictures are pretty cool so check them out. We got some dinner nearby and watched the sunset. The pictures for the Midway are right here. --> USS Midway
In terms of the road trip we leave bright and early tomorrow morning at 8am. Here is a brief rundown of our itinerary.
Day 1 - Drive from San Diego to Zion National Park in Utah. Sunset at the park.
Day 2 - Morning in Zion. Drive to North Rim, Grand Canyon. Sunset at the Grand Canyon.
Day 3 - Morning at the Canyon. Drive to Mesa Verde National Park, Colorado.
Day 4 - Day at Mesa Verde.
Day 5 - Drive to Carlsbad Caverns, New Mexico.
Day 6 - Day at Carlsbad Caverns.
Day 7 - Drive to Austin, Texas. Spend night with Mo's friend Zach
Day 8 - Day in Texas.
Day 9 - Drive from Texas to Natchez Mississippi.
Day 10 - Day in Natchez checking out their antebellum houses and history. Drive to Birmingham, Alabama to spend the night.
Day 11 - Drive to Nashville, Tennessee. Spend night with my Aunt Beth.
Day 12 - Day in Nashville.
Day 13 - Drive to Williamsburg, Virginia.
Day 14 - Day in Williamsburg.
Day 15 - Drive to Washington, DC.
Days 16 & 17 - 2 Days in DC.
Day 18 - Drive to New York and spend the night with friends.
Day 19 - Drive home to Westborough, Massachusetts.
Day 19 is Monday September 15 and Mo will be hanging around for another 2 weeks. Keep checking back at the blog as I plan to try and update everyone as the trip goes along. Not everywhere we go has internet and I plan on being exhausted but I will do my best. Stay tuned.
Farewell, San Diego.
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Monday, August 18, 2008
Balboa Park & San Diego Zoo: Part I
It seems my laziness has gotten the best of me and despite all kinds of free time and plenty of pictures to share, it has taken me nearly 2 weeks to get this post going for our Balboa Park and San Diego Zoo adventures.
Update! Mo is done working at the Children's Museum as of Saturday and I never got to continue working for her dad as things never really got sorted out with the bank. So for the past three weeks I have been doing road trip research, grad school research, and the most fun of all, job searching. History jobs are few and far between and the few applications I have sent out seem to have fallen on deaf ears. I am slowly learning about history masters programs as well as the dreaded GRE. In terms of our road trip we have yet to decide all the specifics such as departure date but we have chosen a route. We will be leaving San Diego, and stopping in Zion National Park (Utah), Grand Canyon National Park (North Rim, Arizona), Mesa Verde National Park (Colorado), Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico), Austin Texas, Natchez Mississippi, Birmingham Alabama, Atlanta Georgia, Colonial Williambsurg (Virginia), Washington DC, New York City, and then Home. The trip covers a little over 4000 miles and about 17 days. We have friends in Austin, Atlanta, Washington, and New York who we thank in advance for easing the budget of the trip. My guess for an arrival date would be somewhere around September 15/16 as we hope to arrange the trip so a weekend lines up with DC and NY. Anywho, I will keep everyone updated as the plans are clarified. On to the pictures!
This first set of pictures comes from our trip to Balboa Park. Balboa Park contains numerous art museums, history museums, international houses, plus all kinds of other funky things. The best thing I can compare it to might be the mall in Washington DC with all the Smithsonian museums and monuments etc. We were drawn to Balboa Park because, not only is it famous and a required tourist destination, but each Sunday one of their international houses gets a festival complete with ethnic food, dancing, and celebration. We were drawn by the tango dancing promised by the Argentinia house which turned out to be dissapointing. We still had a great time though and we plan on going back to see all the things we ran out of time for. The highlights for me were the gigantic koi pond and the model train museum because they reminded me of home and being a little kid. Most of the pictures are from those two things so check 'em out! The link for those pictures is here. --> Balboa Park: Part I
The second set of pictures comes from our trip to the world famous San Diego Zoo! Getting a late start on the day we headed to the Zoo for the evening, planning to stay until they closed at 9pm. We checked out the reptile house with all their snakes and lizards, and then headed off towards the gorillas because we had dinner reservations near them. We passed flamingos and other monkeys on our way and after eating hung out with the bonobos, gazelles, polar bears, and pandas who were adorably asleep. They have a nightly half hour show called Talamasca with singing, acrobatics, and storytelling by some of the animal keepers who have interesting stories. And of course they had adorable pictures of almost every baby animal they had at the zoo. The show ended at closing and we hadn't seen half the zoo so we plan on returning to visit the rest of the animals. Admission was $25 and becoming a member was only another $20 so, since it was cheaper just to become a member, Mo and I both became members of the San Diego Zoo. I'm wicked excited to go back, which we are doing tomorrow! The super awesome pictures from the Zoo are right here. --> San Diego Zoo: Part I
Stay tuned for further updates on our road trip and for pictures of our return trips to the Zoo and Balboa Park. Plus we still hope to get to the USS Midway one of these days.
Update! Mo is done working at the Children's Museum as of Saturday and I never got to continue working for her dad as things never really got sorted out with the bank. So for the past three weeks I have been doing road trip research, grad school research, and the most fun of all, job searching. History jobs are few and far between and the few applications I have sent out seem to have fallen on deaf ears. I am slowly learning about history masters programs as well as the dreaded GRE. In terms of our road trip we have yet to decide all the specifics such as departure date but we have chosen a route. We will be leaving San Diego, and stopping in Zion National Park (Utah), Grand Canyon National Park (North Rim, Arizona), Mesa Verde National Park (Colorado), Carlsbad Caverns (New Mexico), Austin Texas, Natchez Mississippi, Birmingham Alabama, Atlanta Georgia, Colonial Williambsurg (Virginia), Washington DC, New York City, and then Home. The trip covers a little over 4000 miles and about 17 days. We have friends in Austin, Atlanta, Washington, and New York who we thank in advance for easing the budget of the trip. My guess for an arrival date would be somewhere around September 15/16 as we hope to arrange the trip so a weekend lines up with DC and NY. Anywho, I will keep everyone updated as the plans are clarified. On to the pictures!
This first set of pictures comes from our trip to Balboa Park. Balboa Park contains numerous art museums, history museums, international houses, plus all kinds of other funky things. The best thing I can compare it to might be the mall in Washington DC with all the Smithsonian museums and monuments etc. We were drawn to Balboa Park because, not only is it famous and a required tourist destination, but each Sunday one of their international houses gets a festival complete with ethnic food, dancing, and celebration. We were drawn by the tango dancing promised by the Argentinia house which turned out to be dissapointing. We still had a great time though and we plan on going back to see all the things we ran out of time for. The highlights for me were the gigantic koi pond and the model train museum because they reminded me of home and being a little kid. Most of the pictures are from those two things so check 'em out! The link for those pictures is here. --> Balboa Park: Part I
The second set of pictures comes from our trip to the world famous San Diego Zoo! Getting a late start on the day we headed to the Zoo for the evening, planning to stay until they closed at 9pm. We checked out the reptile house with all their snakes and lizards, and then headed off towards the gorillas because we had dinner reservations near them. We passed flamingos and other monkeys on our way and after eating hung out with the bonobos, gazelles, polar bears, and pandas who were adorably asleep. They have a nightly half hour show called Talamasca with singing, acrobatics, and storytelling by some of the animal keepers who have interesting stories. And of course they had adorable pictures of almost every baby animal they had at the zoo. The show ended at closing and we hadn't seen half the zoo so we plan on returning to visit the rest of the animals. Admission was $25 and becoming a member was only another $20 so, since it was cheaper just to become a member, Mo and I both became members of the San Diego Zoo. I'm wicked excited to go back, which we are doing tomorrow! The super awesome pictures from the Zoo are right here. --> San Diego Zoo: Part I
Stay tuned for further updates on our road trip and for pictures of our return trips to the Zoo and Balboa Park. Plus we still hope to get to the USS Midway one of these days.
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