Greetings, from sometimes sunny San Diego. The wedding rush is finally over, but I was not allowed to pass out because today my ever so generous, tiny, beautiful new sister-in-law treated both our family and her family from Taiwan to a day at the zoo. My mother-in-law came, but somehow The Husband and his brother managed to dodge this family outing. I think they said something about having to return tuxes, rental chairs, and needing to give blood. See, he had a very bad childhood. It was traumatizing really. His mother took him and his brother to the San Diego Zoo, the San Diego Wild Animal Park, and Seaworld just about every month.
I heard you gasp. Yes, what a pity. What a shame that any child should have to endure such dastardly things. It's no wonder he made it through life. My poor poor husband. Boo Hoo.
Now, being a San Diego native and having had the privilege of possessing member passes, I've been to the zoo quite often. Although, I hardly ever got to go as a child unlike my poor, abused husband. What a relief that I managed to escape that kind of neglect and travesty in my childhood.
Cause, if I had to go see Effalumps and Woozles too much--well now-- that might have sent me over the edge.
Once I got married and had offspring of my own I got memberships to the zoo. In my apathy for my husbands deep wounds, I learned very little and repeated the pattern of abuse of too-much-nature-fun. I tried to warn the lil’ punks. "If you children don't stop breaking things and being so naughty I'm going to take you to the zoo, again and again! You got that?!"
They’ve survived. For the most part. In my opinion, you can never visit the San Diego Zoo too much. I had no idea how much I missed San Diego until I set foot on the grounds. Or maybe I just missed the zoo. I miss the tropical botanicals. The smell of the air at the zoo is amazing. It actually smells fresh and sweet even though you're in a place that produces a gazillion tons of animal dung every year.
That's a lot of poop.
I really have missed the hibiscus among other plants. The bursts of colors have been missed. So much of San Diego is dry and brown, but the bright flowers in shades of purple, oranges, reds, and pinks makes up for the lack of green in a lot of places. At the zoo though there’s plenty of green foliage and plant life. I kept breathing in the eucalyptus scent and it brought back so many memories of my childhood spent in San Diego. I tried to get some pictures of the plant life but we were whizzing through the zoo so fast and the pictures I did get didn’t turn out well. I want to take home hibiscus and force it to grow with my Jedi powers.
Grow among the dairy farms, breweries, and corn fields you will. Die of frost, you will not.
And because I'm obsessed with pictures I took a bunch, but keep in mind I was traveling through the zoo at supersonic speeds with twelve other people. Only seven of them English speaking. There are far fewer pictures then usual, but good memories nonetheless. As always you can also visit my flickr page.
