San Diego Zoo

I'm not a big fan of zoos. I can't bear to see that flat, sad look in their eyes from behind the fence. But my soon-to-be stepson loves 'em, so I went to the San Diego Zoo to take pictures for his birthday present, a fictional story about our family going on a trip to the zoo. Along with the photos, I'm going to throw in a few interesting animal facts. I'm sure it'll sound ridiculous, but hey, he's only four. He won't know any better.

I nearly had a heart attack at the $22 entrance fee they charge just to get on the other side of the turnstile and because I wanted to watch the football games, I paid this twice – once on Saturday afternoon and again Sunday morning. It costs $10 more if you want to add the bus and aerial tram ride package, but being both cheap and athletic, I opted to walk. Besides, the whole reason for going to the zoo was to take pictures of the animals, which requires time and patience to get a suitable face shot.

In spite of all the time I spent there, I only ate one meal. As I was eating, the woman next to me was complaining about how overpriced the food was. My bacon burger was eight bucks, but it had real meat, cheese, lettuce and bacon. It came with fries. I was ok with it. In fact, after all those hours of running around, it tasted like the best burger I'd had all year (being only three weeks into the year, it's not technically an exaggeration).

I bought a rechargeable CRV3 battery for my digital camera, knowing I'd take a lot of pictures on this trip. I didn't recharge the battery overnight, and my digital camera has the shortest low-battery warning EVAR, so I didn't get but a few pictures taken before battery pooped out.

Arrgh.

I checked the map for the closest gift shop. The map lists only 11 of them, but it seems they have more like 30 because they deliberately put a gift shop after every major animal exhibit (pandas, polar bears, monkeys, etc) in addition to the five (FIVE!) they have near the entrance. I'm surprised they don't have you leave your credit card on file, in case you accidentally leave the zoo without spending enough money.

I ran to the end of the monkey's section to the monkey-themed gift shop. I bought a monkey shirt for my youngest daughter and four digital-camera specific AA batteries (vs. just two). Good thing I bought four, because I drained them all dry by the time I was done.

Time to watch football!!