California Adventures # 3

I'm sure ya'll are curious about what our first day in California was like after we FINALLY found our hotel.....so the story continues.....

After being awake for about 21 hours on Friday, we realize that we are only going to get about 5 hours of sleep because we wanted to be at the San Diego Zoo when it opened at 9am. Our hotel in Anaheim was about 90 minutes from the Zoo, so we were in for a long day of driving.

On our way to the zoo, Missy wanted to drive our very cool rental car. I'm in awe of nature's beauty on the way south to San Diego. We are driving along I-5 South and on the left side of the highway we see beautiful mountains and on the right side of the highway we see the ocean! It was a beautiful sight! We didn't realize that we were so close to the ocean and then....BAM....there it was! So, Missy feels the urge to test out our rental car and see wants to see how fast she can make it go. First off, let me say that the speed limits on California highways are 65 MPH. If you don't go 80-85 MPH...you will get run over! There are no cops in sight and Missy has a clear road. The next thing I know....we're going 95 MPH!! Go Missy! You rock! So, we are at the zoo in no time thanks to Missy's driving...LOL and we start looking at all the awesome exhibits. (Missy and I are working on getting all the pics onto a Photobucket album, but it takes a while to get 800+ pics on their website)

One of the funniest things that we saw at the zoo was a Mommy Gorilla taking care of business and she was peeing in the grass. Her baby gorilla comes up to her (while she's pottying) and puts his hand right in the middle of it and the baby gorilla then takes his wet hand and rubs it on his Mommy! It was definately the funniest thing that I have ever seen happen at a zoo!

Many people have asked me what is so special about the San Diego Zoo? Well...I'll share a few things with all of you. The main reason it's so special is the size of the zoo... its Gigantic!! They have many different shuttles around the zoo so that you can see the whole thing in 1 day. We rode on a two-decker tour bus so that we could see most of the zoo and then we walked the rest of it. The panda bear exhibit was amazing! The Giant Pandas aren't as giant as you may think they are, but they sure are adorable. The also have many different types of animals like the wallabee (which is a mini kangaroo), koalas (which were hiding in the trees), camels, llamas, 17 giant tortoises and many others. They even have an aerial tram that takes you from one end of the zoo to the other. The zoo has many forms of transportation so that you can get around very fast and easy.

On our way out of San Diego, we stop for a bite to eat at an Italian Restaurant called Bacione Ristorante. I believe this was the worlds smallest italian restaurant (with only about 10-15 tables) but they had the worlds best marinara sauce! No joke...it was the best marinara I have ever had! Missy ordered Chicken and pasta in a white wine garlic cream sauce and it was awesome too! Our appetizer was a fancy loaf of bread with just the right blend of garlic and cheeses.

The one thing that we were surprised about was how nice everyone was to us. Driving on the highway was a different story, but everyone we encountered was very nice. I guess when I went out to California I expected to run into people that were snooty and rich...boy was I wrong...LOL.

So, here we were with our tummies full and we are both really tired from the lack of sleep we had and I told Missy that I would drive home. Thankfully we drove back before rush hour and made it back to the hotel quickly because of the flow of traffic. I was able to get some open road (just like Missy did) and break her 95 MPH record and I went 100 MPH!!! It was a great feeling. Words cannot express how happy I was to do 100! I know it sounds insane, but it really gave me great joy! LOL

I hope everyone is enjoying our blogs and we will have more to come! Stay tuned for more adventures!