San Diego Zoo: Part II & the USS Midway

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.