San Diego Zoo, Part 3 - Less Fuzzy Mammals

First, I shared the bird and reptiles I photographed at the San Diego Zoo. Then the super fuzzy animals. This time around, the animals are less fuzzy... but just as awesome!

Who doesn't love a good zebra butts photo?

This guy looks like what I'd imagine would happen if an antelope and zebra had a baby. What crazy patterning! Poor guy probably had a hard time fitting into either group growing up.

And a few more butt shots.

Mmm... grass!

Heehee. Look at that little dude! Looks like nap time.

I caught a little action series of this dude laying down. Gosh that looks like a painful way to go about it.

That is the exact pose I would select if I was lying on a beach checking out the ocean view. Think that's what this cutie was going for?

Those horns!!! I wouldn't get into a fight when these goats.

I'm thinking the tagline here should be "tiny but ferocious." At least that's what the expression says to me.

I must be a in a snarky mood, since you got my snarky commentary instead of any actual animal facts. That and I don't know any of their names because I'm terrible at that sort of thing. Anyone who wants to help me out with that, be my guest! Two more parts to post, still!

San Diego Zoo, Part 2 - Fuzzy Animals

In unfortunate news, the wireless internet on my laptop randomly stopped working... so I'm crossing my fingers that it'll be fixable when I take it in today. Oh, and the battery dies almost immediately when the laptop is unplugged. Sooo that + the fact that it's about 4 years old & I use it at least a few hours every day might mean it's time for a new laptop. =( Anyway...

Seemed like about time for another San Diego Zoo post! If you missed the first one, it was birds and reptiles. Today, I decided to share some of the fuzzy/furry animals we saw!

One of the best animals in existence, in my humble opinion. Definitely drawn comics/stories featuring them before and a friend once gave me a stuffed blue llama. Best present ever! They just crack me up.

I hear koala's are actually not particularly nice, but they do look pretty darn cuddly!

I forget what these were called (let me know if you know!) but they are cute!

EDIT// Apparently these fuzzy darlings are called Takins - thanks, Carrie!

And... a few of the smaller fuzzy ones.

Monkeys are fuzzy too.

Check out this guy. He even had a bio - supposedly he's quite the "player." Bet the zookeepers had a fun time writing that one up!

Can't forget the pandas! San Diego Zoo has a whole section for them. Lucky for us, our panda friend was hungry and violently chowing down. It was fun to watch. I would not want to be that piece of bamboo.

More pictures to come! Seriously, this zoo was really, really big. Have you been there?

San Diego Zoo, Part 1 - Birds & Reptiles

More pictures from way back! These are from our trip to LA / Carlsbad / San Diego back in May. Honestly, the San Diego is so gigantic and overwhelming, and I took so many pictures... that I delayed posting these because of the time I knew it would take to sort through it all. But I've finally gotten around to it. It has been a lot of fun looking through these pictures from a few months ago.

Due to the sheer volume of pictures, I'm splitting this up into a multi-part series. Today I present... birds and reptiles!

We were first greeted by a peacock living up in a tree. No big deal.

So many flamingos! They really are quite funny creatures.

And... the hardcore birds. Whoa.

I personally think snakes are awesome. Not that I would particularly want to encounter one in the wild, but really. How cool are these snakes?

 Totally wish I had spikes like that. Don't tell me you don't.

Do you have a favorite bird or reptile? I think snakes are my favorite reptiles. Aside from dragons, of course. =)

Seaworld, Part 2

More pictures (and a very short video) from our SeaWorld trip last month. You can see part 1 here.

As part of admission to SeaWorld, we had free access to various scheduled shows around the park. The comedy show was incredible, featuring two very well-trained sea lions named Clyde and Seamore, a seal, and an otter. We really enjoyed the show.

Check out the talented sea lion!

Of course, they had a dolphin show! Dolphins are one of my favorite animals, and I "hung out with a dolphin" during a Caribbean cruise two winters ago. They're so fun and playful. While the dolphins in the show were impressive, Jacob and I wished it had been a little more about the animals and less about the acrobatics, which dragged the show out a bit.

They did some pretty cool tricks!

Dolphins swimming together in a pod. =)

Between the shows, we ran over to catch the Shipwreck Rapids raft ride. We got completely soaked! As in... we looked like we had just been dunked. Of course, it didn't help that they have little "pay to shoot" water gun stations along the ride, and some evil spectators decided to help spray us!

So many Shamus!

They were quite talented as well. Jacob observed that while the trainers got in the water at the dolphin show, they most certainly did not at the killer whale show. Probably a very wise move.

Show-off! =)

If you are ever in the area and have a full day free, I would recommend visiting SeaWorld! Here are my tips:
- As discussed in part 1, buy tickets online, ahead of time, or through the multi-park pass deals. Substantial savings ($20+ per ticket).
- Make sure to allot at least six hours if you want to see everything. More if you plan to take breaks and/or eat at the park. It is a big place.
- Mark all of the shows and events you don't want to miss right at the start - a lot of the events only occur once or twice a day and you don't want to miss them! We made it to all of the ones we wanted to see.
- Wear good shoes. Again - big place. Lots of walking.

Jacob got me a plushie Shamu there, and I bought myself an adorable "melt hearts, not ice caps" penguin t-shirt at the gift shop. Too cute!

LA: Tarina Tarantino, Tokidoki, and So So Happy

After Unique LA, I insisted we stop by a few shops on Melrose before heading down to Carlsbad. Wish I had thought to look up the Betsey Johnson store there - well, at least we went to the San Diego store later.

First up: Tarina Tarantino!

If you somehow haven't heard of her, Tarina is a jewelry designer known for her bright, sparkly jewelry and her signature fuschia hair. As I expected, her store was adorable and so colorful! Yeah, that's me in the mirrors taking pictures. =)

Someday I will decorate at least one room in the house like her store is decorated. Pretty pastels and tons of colors!

We had to stop by Tokidoki, of course! Check out that sweet scene on the store window. I have Kaiju and Mooka in plushie version.

Skateboard wall. My friend Zoe and I were talking about how we both love decorative skateboards. Someday... Nope, not cool enough to actually use them functionally, but Tokidoki board always look awesome.

Awesome backdrop! They let me be weird and take a picture with the graphics wall, although it turned out to be hazardous. See that door on the wall right behind me? Yeah, it definitely opened (outward) while I was standing right there...

Later, we tried to go to the My Little Pony show at the Toy Art Gallery. It just wasn't meant to be. First, our GPS misled us - I swear, iPhones get me lost in foreign cities. As in... nowhere near the destination. Eventually we found it, but the lines were insanely long. Around two corners as far as we could see. So... I stopped by to take a picture with the So So Happy wall of a nearby shop and called it a day.

I did get a few items at the Tokidoki store. Truffle! Easter cactus bunny. Yeah that's right - Simone Legno of Tokidoki makes cactus animals! This was even before my love for cacti began. Totally meant to be. And I couldn't resist getting a few pins! The stickers were free with my purchase. =) I don't know about you, but I love getting stickers. Never grew out of it, I suppose. The stickers arrive with online orders but I wasn't sure about store purchases - pleasant surprise!

All in all, a fun day in LA! I wish we had more time there, though. I really wanted to try the macaron ice cream sandwiches at Milk, and go to a lot more stores like Japan LA.

Next time, I suppose!