Post #691278 by danlovestikis on Sat, Aug 24, 2013 4:20 PM

MadDogMike what a bummer that we were not there together. Partially because we didn't notice the glass window in the patio and we were there a long time. Also because spending time with you and Teresa is always a pleasure.

Here goes more on our trip to Tiki Oasis 13. These are all things that are available in San Diego.
These photos show our day at the San Diego Zoo in Balboa Park. This is one of the world's best zoos. Not only that the foliage in the park is worth more than the animals with many endangered varieties.

We started out the day as soon as the gates opened. We looked at the map and jumped on a double deck-er bus. For $44 you have access to these buses with a guided tour of the zoo.

We guessed right when we choose our seats. Facing forward get on the right side. You can stand up during the ride but we had the best view for most of the ride.

From the map we could tell that half of the zoo is hot and half is tropical.

We like tropical best. By riding the buss we could see where we wanted to walk later on. Every day the elephants get a manicure. One worker feeds the elephant treats to keep it in position while the other does the toes. They also weigh and check out other body parts to make sure they are OK.

Also included in the price are unlimited tram rides. As soon as we got off the bus we were able to get on the tram. The end of the ride didn't have a line so we stayed on and rode it back. After that a line formed so we were done riding for the day.

The map has a list of all the places to eat in the park. From the tram we could see the top of Albert's restaurant. We decided it was time to walk there.

The walk was beautiful just like Hawaii.

The restaurant was actually below the top deck. When you looked out you just saw trees and other plants. The food was good.

As we continued our journey Dan kept saying we are in Hawaii, this is beautiful. All that is missing are tikis
and then we came out of the tropical forest to find one.

We decided that we should look at some of the animals.
We found a huge Koala exhibit. They sure are sleepy animals. If one moved a millimeter the whole crowd would exclaim ohhhh it moved.

Back to the forest and more plants. Ohhhhh another tiki!

I use photos of plants in my paintings so I took a lot of them.

A lady offered to take our photo together at the end of our day. We saw 1/2 of the park in 5.5 hours. It was enough for this year.

Tomorrow finishes our photos of the rest of our Tiki Oasis 13 and then its back to ceramics.

Thank you for your ride along on our journey, Wendy