San Diego Zoo and Whale Watching

San Diego Zoo

Oh, the San Diego Zoo. I’d heard such lovely things about it. I was all psyched up and ready to go. I mean, I hail from the Nation’s Capital where the zoo is free. So, I about choked on my own saliva when I heard that it cost $50 for adults and $40 for kids to get into this highly regarded pinnacle.

I’ve been to my share of zoos so I’m no newbie here. I’ve been to zoos in Beijing where we fed the zebra’s and Chongqing with tons of baby pandas (both zoo’s nearly free), I’ve been to zoos in St. Louis (free), D.C. (free) and Richmond ($17/A, $11/K – and you can feed the giraffes). But the San Diego zoo is definitely the most expensive zoo I’ve visited.

So I was awaiting panda’s in golden lined habitats and koala’s chopping on the finest eucalyptus leaves heralded the world over. I mean, this is supposed to be the real deal. The best zoo in the U.S. of A! At least after my sticker shock entrance fee, the parking was free.

So how was our experience? Well guys, it was just a zoo. Now no hate comments if you’re madly in love, I respect your opinion. It’s just that I was having a hard time putting this one on the top of my list. The zoo in St. Louis was every bit as nice, was free, and I scored  free parking.

Now don’t get me wrong, they had lots of bird exhibits throughout the zoo. Since I’m not a huge birdie person, it was kind of getting on my nerves. They had pandas and koalas and elephants, oh my. They had bears and zebras and giraffes. We saw one animal in the arctic area but sadly not the polar bear or any penguins. And yes, the animals looked well cared for.

But I couldn’t help but wonder what in the world they were doing with such a steep entrance fee. The elephant area, where you could see them getting their daily grooming, was paid for with donations from members. The same with nearly all the main zoo exhibits.

One thing I was pretty surprised about was a double-decker bus that drives through most of the zoo. It’s a nice plus if you don’t want to walk (so is the skyfari that takes you over the zoo) but in my opinion, it was dangerous.

You have all these little kids running around everywhere and this big ole’ double decker bus is riding through the tight narrow streets. I’m really surprised that there haven’t been enough complaints to do away with the thing. To a mom with twins who were very active in their toddler years, this is an accident waiting to happen.

Maybe I’m just a simple soul, I don’t know. I just didn’t see what all the fuss was about. Yes, it’s a nice zoo but it doesn’t warrant a $50 entrance fee, period. Locals do have it good though, a yearly pass only sets them back $111/A and $50/K and that covers the sister zoo, San Diego Zoo Safari Park. But they’re really gouging the tourists.

So I’m putting the San Diego Zoo on the been there, done that list. I’m not saying I’d never do it again but only if I could find some discount tickets. I did manage to get 20% off by combining the zoo with the whale watching trip by purchasing a “Go San Diego Pass“.

It was totally legit and super easy, I purchased them before we left. Then, when I arrived at the zoo, I simply showed them my mobile ticket. They scanned it and in we went. The same with the whale watching tour. And speaking of whale watching, here’s how that outing went.

Whale Watch by Flagship Cruises & Events

After purchasing our whale watching tickets, I called Flagship Cruises and made a reservation to go out on our boating excursion. On the day of the cruise, we managed to find the right boat dock with little fuss. We boarded around 1:30 under nice sunny skies. It was a pretty typical San Diego day.

But wouldn’t you know it, my crew was on board so that was about to change. As we pull away from the harbor, our guide points out the city skyline in the distance. She’s a bit surprised to see it partially shrouded in fog.

She says, “Normally I instruct everyone to take pictures of the skyline right about now but it’s too foggy for that today.”

The fog begins

Oh joy, I think to myself, sounds like RV Lost Yet’s rotten luck creeping in. She continues to narrate the trip and explain some of the things we’re seeing from the ship. We see some sea lions docked on buoys and we hear some of the history of the bay. The further we get from shore, the foggier it gets.

There are a few dolphins that skim beside the ship, teasing us by poking up for a second and then gliding off. We continue to keep our eyes peeled. Well, that would be one eye for me, the eye with the contact lens! We’re in search of whales.

We see some more sea lions and brown-footed boobies (at least that’s what I think she called them). Then another run or two of dolphins, one of which I managed to get this pretty cool picture. Finally, we’re several miles out to sea awaiting whales.

But wouldn’t you know it, not a single one surfaced – well, if they did we wouldn’t have known it. Because we couldn’t see hardly anything in all the FOG. The further out to sea we went, the worse the fog got. By the time we were at the location where we ‘might’ be able to spot some whales, it wasn’t going to happen.

Sea lions shrouded in fog

Now I know they have zero control over the forces of nature. I don’t blame them or the beloved whales. Really, I don’t. But folks, this is only the second time this entire season where the weather has gotten in the way. I blame our luck. So, I’m not surprised when we turn around and head back to shore without a whale sighting.

Hey, we were given vouchers to come back and try again another time. It would be really nice if I could book another day and time to do that before we leave, but that’s not going to happen <SIGH>. Notice how that’s a BIG sigh. The good here? We saw dolphins and sea lions.

So about those contact lenses. You know my loyal readers, the ones I’m awaiting after the dear sweet puppy chewed up my pair. They were finally ordered and I’m told they’ll be here this week. But I cannot hang around this RV Park and pay yet another week of what accounts to nearly a month of my RV Park budget.

You see, if I had any insight into what was going to happen, I’d have been better off paying for the month. Because after you pay for two weeks, that pretty much equals a month’s rent. And since I didn’t come in under a monthly fee, I’m SOL. So as sad as I’ll be to say goodbye to Escondido, San Diego and all the lovely things in the area, it’s time to move on.

I’ve been guaranteed when my contact lenses arrive they will FedEx them to me. I’m pretty hesitant about this but my options are slim. And if I had to, I can come back and pick them up because our next destination isn’t all that far.

There’s a sailboat in there somewhere!

We’ll be heading backwards for our next stop. I know, I know, seems pretty silly, doesn’t it? But remember all those RV parks I tried to get into over the holiday weekend? They’ve had spots open up. So, we’ll be heading on over to Orangeland RV Park in Anaheim. We’re promised all the oranges we care to pick. Yum!

You see, I want to take the kids into Hollywood to see all the sites. So, I’m booking a tour and I’ll leave all the crazy Los Angeles driving to them.

I think this is the best way to see L.A. without having to drive in and fight the traffic. And who knows, after we go on the tour, maybe I’ll feel a tad bit more confident to do so. But first we’ll check out L.A. in a day, it’s a 10-hour tour. I’m hoping this is the last ‘pricey’ thing I’ll pay for before we head on out of California.

My namesake at the zoo

Anaheim will be our last California stop. Then we’re going to hightail it to Tucson. I’m skipping Yuma altogether. It’ll be a long drive but I need to make up for lost time and chewed up contact lenses.

It’s going to be bittersweet as I’ve really enjoyed California, especially Southern California. So much so that I’m starting a petition to move here some day in the near future :-). We’ll see how that goes, it’s pricey. I would love to get out of the east coast.

I mean what’s not to love? It’s about 20 minutes to a plethora of beaches, the weather makes me want to break out in song every lovely sunny day I wake up, most everyone I’ve run into is very nice and people are pretty loyal to SoCal. A lot of people I’ve met were born here and don’t see any reason to leave.

The next time I report out, I’ll be sharing all the highlights from our Hollywood tour. This will include our lovely faces near the Hollywood sign, the walk of fame, Rodeo Drive, a mansion or two and more. So don’t forget to check in with us. Better yet, subscribe to RV Lost  Yet? and you’ll get an e-mail whenever I post out.

{HUGS} from the Crew!

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