"A whole new world" (don't you dare close your eyes): Someone told me it's all happening at the Zoo...

So we got some tickets and went to San Diego Zoo. It is a world famous zoo, and as they go it is pretty spacious and feels pretty natural in terms of environment and enclosures. A fair few of their almost 4000 animals are rescue cases. They have also done sterling work on the panda breeding front and have sent 6 cubs back to China over the years.

Mum and dad hadn't been to a zoo in over 30 years, so I thought if they are going to go to any one, this is probably the best!

Our guesstimate of a 3 trip was way off, and we ended up spending 6 hours there, and still only seeing about half of the zoo! It was a lovely day out, helped by the sunshine, blue sky, and the temperature rising about 8 degrees higher than it had been for the past couple of days.

We started with a bus tour of the park, which gives you a good idea of where everything is (the park is 99 acres!). We had planned our priority animals the day before (I know, I know - it's not like me to be uber organised) and hit the park at 9am with gusto...

Highlights for me and the folks were the pandas, baby panda (who was hiding and I only got to see him with a camera) polar bears, orangutans, giraffes and the gorilla.