San Diego Trip - June 6-11, 2011

I flew to San Diego with a colleague to attend a conference for the database we use at the animal shelter where I work. Here are some photos from the trip:

This is the type of plane we took to San Diego... this photo was taken from inside our plane.

Amazing view from the sky.

This appears to be the wildfire in Arizona.

We arrived at our hotel, and saw this great welcome sign for the VIPs (Very Important Pooches).

Daytime view of our hotel, the Solamar.

Nighttime view of our hotel.

Our hotel room.

Our bathroom.

This is Petco Stadium, which was right down the street from our hotel.

This is a neat little car we saw parked nearby.

The Balboa Theater stood out from the other buildings.

There was a neat outdoor mall not far from our hotel that had many great stores and restaurants. We ate at the Panda Inn, and made friends with a stray cat on the fourth floor. We returned the following day to leave a can of food for the cat.

I loved the architecture of this building.

The streets were beautiful and clean. What a great place to live or visit.

Here are some palm trees outside the Marriott near the Seaport Village.

We checked out the Seaport Village, which is a great seaside shopping center with many restaurants and a boardwalk.

Here I am by the water. By the way, the weather was always between 60 and 70 degrees... it was perfect!

There were cute paths leading to the different sections of the village.

This was a very interesting tree that had beautiful flowers.

You don't see these in Virginia!

This is a huge cactus outside one of the shops.

What a great place to shop and hang out.

Here is a nice, clean fountain.

I thought I'd hang out with Ben & Jerry's cow.

A trolley went by while we walked back to our hotel from the Seaport Village.

On our last day, we had some time to kill before we took the red eye back home, so we decided to check out the San Diego Zoo.

Not only was the zoo huge, but it was absolutely beautiful.

Buses took visitors throughout the zoo, but my colleague and I decided to walk. Incredibly, we saw the entire zoo before we left.

This gorgeous peacock roamed freely, and was happy to show off for the visitors.

There were many koalas... several of them were sleeping, but this cute little guy decided to pose for the camera.

This is a Guam rail, which is extinct in the wild.

Here is a tree kangaroo. I love his coloring.

This zoo keeper was trying to clean the camel enclosure, but one of them came running over to have a drink.


Despite having a large pool for swimming, these hippos preferred to sunbathe.

Here are some meerkats keeping an eye out for predators.

These are California condors. They have a huge flight cage.

This is a pronghorn, which is the fastest land animal in North America... they can reach speeds of up to 53 miles per hour.

Here is a New Guinea singing dog. They have a wide range in vocalizations, and can yodel like a basenji. It's hard to believe that he is any different from the dogs we have at home.

This porcupine is sound asleep.

This cougar was raised by humans, and is known to approach visitors for attention.

Here is a striped hyena taking a snooze.

Here is the better-known spotted hyena.

Here's something you won't see in the wild... a polar bear sitting on grass and eating a carrot. This is further proof that the Dharma Initiative was cross-breeding polar bears and rabbits :)

This is a Malaysian sun bear... he looks like he is going bald on his backside.

This cute little guy is a lion-tailed macaque.

Here is a jaguar taking a nap.

Here is a very handsome lion showing off for the camera.

You know how they have splash zones at Sea World? It's worse at the zoo :)

Here is a gorilla deep in thought.

A siamang is following an orangutan.

This baby orangutan is having a great time rolling around in the tall grass.

Here I am inside a huge aviary. It was great having so many birds flying throughout this spacious exhibit, complete with a waterfall.

These collared lories enjoyed lunch, and were completely unfazed by my approaching them for a photo.

Before we left, we had a chance to meet the giant pandas. The San Diego Zoo is one of only four zoos in the United States that has pandas, which are part of their conservation program. Here is a panda happily eating some bamboo.

What a great way to end a fantastic trip across the country!