Day 10: Back Home/Monday

After the San Diego Zoo, we drove home from San Diego, through Yuma, AZ, and back to Gilbert. The ride was nice. We passed sand dunes near Yuma. They were the same ones used to shoot special scenes for Star Wars IV and VI. They were used in addition to filming in Tunisia. On a side note, there were some popular movies that filmed scenes in parts of Arizona - like Indiana Jones & the Temple of Doom, Casablanca, Psycho, Wayne's World, and others. Back to the drive...one of the sights Tim pointed out was that along one part of the drive, you can actually see the border fence with Mexico. It wasn't that far away. From our distance, it looked to me like a rust-colored metal fence with vertical strips in between the vertical bars and one long horizontal bar on top. There was no way to judge how tall or short the fence really is from where we were. It was kind of cool in one place because our road went up a slight hill and you could see over the fence into Mexico. It didn't look any different on either side in that particular place, just like a rancher's fence breaks off sections, but it was still cool.



When we got home, the house was spotless! The trash had been taken out, the carpets were recently vacuumed, there were no dishes in the sink, no towels or laundry lying around, the dining room and living room were picked up, and it smelled clean. What a great Mother's Day gift from Jordan. She did a great job taking care of the house while I was gone. Even though she's the youngest, I had told the boys that she was in charge of the house. If she told them to pick up their mess somewhere, or take the trash out (it's their job), then they had to do it. On my bed was a card from Adam with a Red Robin gift card for me. The card was funny - just the way I like them from my kids. Another perfect ending to another great day.

Now, finally, on to Day 10 - The last day of our official vacation. We woke up Monday when we were done sleeping. We started our day by having breakfast, and just relaxing around the house, enjoying our time with the kids as they each got up (or home from work, in Logan's case). We decided to go out to eat since we were starting "clean eating" and a cleanse for a week the following day. We went to Hibachi Grill. That place is great! It's a Chinese buffet, but they also have pizza, Mexican food, french fries, etc. (although I don't think I ever tried any of those there). I always start at the grill. I chose my veggies and then a little bit of steak. I handed it to the chef who grilled it right there in front of me. I figured if I always start with fresh veggies and lean looking meat, I'll be that much more full before hitting the junk food type of choices on the rest of the buffet. Tim started with the grill, then the sushi bar. Nothing spectacular, not much fish, but he still enjoyed it. After that, I chose carefully. I didn't want to gain 5 pounds the day before trying to lose weight. I had been pretty good, since I never gained any weight on the whole vacation, even though I ate what I felt like eating. Anyway...I chose 2 or 3 small pieces of sweet & sour chicken, a skewer of chicken meatballs, some orange chicken, a spoonful of the beef and broccoli, and I think that's about it. I was pretty full. I went over to the dessert bar, which is pretty big. I didn't want jello, or the cakes - they're usually dry anyway, or anything with chocolate, or puff pastries (no flavor anyway), in fact the only dessert I chose was a scoop of their ice cream and one serving spoon of banana pudding with vanilla wafers and whipped cream. I felt more full than I had felt in a long time. I felt satisfied and knew I could now start a strict 2 weeks without sugar, artificial sweeteners, artificial colors/flavors, soy, grains, dairy, or caffeine. I wouldn't feel deprived. By the time I start missing some of those things - especially healthy dairy - I'll be able to have it anyway.

After dinner Tim and I went to the movies to see Captain America 2: Winter Soldier. We thought about Spiderman 2, but figured we'd see whatever was released first in case we missed it by the time Tim came back from his next trip. The movie was very good. Better than the first one, better than I hoped it would be. It was great.

After that, we went home, wrapped up the night, and got ready to return to our regular routine in the morning getting him ready to head out Wednesday - but now we could do that more rested, more at peace, more relaxed. It was the best ten days in a row of my life!

Day 9: Sunday - San Diego/Zoo

Sunday morning we got up early, had the great breakfast Pat had put out for us, then headed out for San Diego. The drive was nice, not much traffic on a Sunday morning, and you can see the coast from the road once you get near San Diego. Tim has always had to rush back from wherever we've been to get home for work, so when we're going somewhere, there is no stopping. Asking him to stop so I can take pictures just wasn't done. For the first time, we had no real schedule, no rush. We could even take another day in San Diego if we wanted to, he didn't have to be back to work for 3 more days. I asked him if we could stop somewhere to get a few pictures, since I'd never been to San Diego and wanted pictures of the ocean there. To my surprise, he said, "Sure we can." I was so happy! We pulled into a rest area that had great views, as well as another lookout area too. The ocean wasn't as close from there, and it looked totally different from the L.A. area beaches. After a few minutes, we were back on the road again.

We found getting to zoo really easy with the GPS. I'd been wanting to see that zoo for years! I've been to a couple of zoos in my life, but I had never seen a koala, hippo, polar bear, panda, or gorilla. I was really looking forward to seeing them. The parking lot was HUGE! I know the Phoenix Zoo lot is too, but I'm used to seeing that one. This definitely looked bigger to me. Getting in was pretty quick. They open at 9 AM, and we got there around 10, but since it was also Mother's Day, (and church day), the crowds were probably much smaller than they usually would have been. It wasn't outrageously priced, either, and of course, I brought a coupon to save us $8 on admission.

My sister had recommended the sky lift ride to see the zoo. She said it was really nice from up there. We did that first while the line was short. I forgot she went in October, and I forgot that outside of Arizona there are trees. The ride itself was nice, and there were great city views, but we couldn't see a thing below us. Nothing but green tree tops. Not a single animal - but still a fun ride to take with Tim.

The first thing we went to see after taking the sky ride was the Polar Bear exhibit. I had no idea how big they were! They had a statue outside the exhibit that stood ten feet tall. They said it's actual sized based on the boy bear they have now. They're twins, a brother and sister. I was watching for a long time, just mesmerized. What beautiful animals.

The next major sight for me (with lots of other animals in-between) was the hippo. They had a big one, and a baby one. They were huge. I knew they'd be big, but I guess I didn't realize how thick their skin was. It was like an old leather sofa. It had some deep scars in it too. Not sure if it's from other hippos or if the zoo got them that way from being rescued in the wild or something.

The koala was a must-see for me. Tim had seen koalas and even held one when he visited Australia with his family the Christmas before we got married. They eat eucalyptus leaves, which is like catnip to a cat, and being "drugged" and "high", they sleep for about 20 hours a day or more. Many didn't move much, and they seemed to sleep like my cat, with their face pushed up to something - in their case, the tree boughs. A few moved a little, but it was very difficult to get a photo of them facing us.

A really interesting thing happened while watching the koalas...we noticed a crowd gathering on just one side of the street, and people were making noises like they were startled or surprised by something (gasps, not like they were afraid). I stepped into the street to see around the crowd and there were two zoo employees walking a cheetah and a white wolf (looked just like a tall, thin dog) down the opposite sidewalk. I read later that these two became friends at the zoo (somehow), in spite of them being "a cat and a dog". They are regularly walked together from their cages to the close encounter area nearby where people can pay $100 and up to get close to a few of the animals. That was the most amazing thing to see. Cheetahs are my favorite animal ever and our zoo just lost the last 2 recently with no idea when they'll be able to get more. This was a wonderful treat for me!

The gorilla enclosure was very similar to our zoo's orangutan exhibit. There were a few in there we got to see, especially once they came near the glass. I think they like seeing all the people sometimes to avoid being lonely. They seemed to enjoy being near crowds more than away on their own.

We also saw lots of other animals and tons of birds. We saw giraffes, zebras, leopards, some similar to what the Phoenix Zoo has, and others we'd never heard of. It was a great day, we spent about 5 hours there and I'm sure there were a few areas we didn't get to see. Also, there were a few other animals that weren't on exhibit that day that we didn't see, so I think another trip someday would be great. I'd love to bring Jordan here. She loves animals and her favorites are all here (except penguins).

I saved the best for last...the PANDAS!!! The signs read that we could expect a 30 - 45 minute wait in line to get to them (mostly because people obviously linger, understandably, while photographing and videoing them). Being Mother's Day and early in the morning, our wait was only about 10 minutes, and it was through a bamboo forest type of setting. We passed a Red Panda along the way. It was about the size of a small lemur, and didn't look much like a panda, but it was still cute. Once we got into the panda viewing area I was so happy! They look like large stuffed animals come to life. We watched them eat bamboo, sleep, move around a bit, and smile at us - at least that's what it looked like. I wished Jordan could've been with us to see them! Unfortunately, it'll have to wait until next time.

Sorry this is sideways, I took it with my tablet.

All in all, it was a wonderful day, with perfect weather, but if you decide to visit the San Diego Zoo, a word of caution...it is a large zoo, and it is NOT level by any means! There are areas with very steep hills, both leading down and others leading up, and many exhibits you have to go up several flights of steps that have been built in the middle of the zoo areas (unless you have crutches or a wheelchair, then you can use the elevators). There are 2 moving sidewalk type of escalators that help, but they are pretty far apart. Also, there is the sky ride to make it shorter to get to the other side, but they're only one way. There's also a train, but you won't get to stop and get pictures when you want. Other than being quite the workout (even Tim was surprised at how tired he was from it all), and the paths are a bit confusing in places where they don't match the map quite right, it's a beautiful zoo with some reasonably priced gift items, a great selection of animals, and good food at the restaurants (or at least the one we tried). I look forward to another trip there with Jordan someday.