Zoos and more shopping

Hippo running like a dog underwater
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We remain on the campsite in Mission Bay for Sunday and Monday.  Sunday is spent out at San Diego Zoo.  This Zoo is renowned as one of the best in the world, and I had heard good reports from friends.  It certainly lived upto, and exceeded, my expectations.

I'm not really a zoo kind of person, think its all a bit cruel putting these animals in small cages and displaying them to the public.  But this zoo is superb, with, generally, large enclosures and plenty for the animals to do.  It was nice to see polar bears behaving in a fairly normal way - the ones I had seen previously at London Zoo and Seaworld both had mental issues due to being locked up.  These looked happy and alert, searching for food above and under the water.

playing boo with the Polar Bear

Big Ele
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The hippo was probably the highlight of the day, unexpectantly.  It was astonishing to see it moving under the water, it was so beautiful, and seemed much less clumsy than above the water.  I think it might have been bored though, as just kept going round in circles.  Maybe it was having fun, Im not sure....

The whole zoo was spectacular, by far the best zoo I have ever visited (though I have not been to many), and I would recommend highly if you visit San Diego.  We walked around and didnt see everything in the 5 hours we were there.  You could catch a bus but they seemed packed, plus you couldnt see much from them.

Giant Panda - Not as giant as I expected
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Matthew enjoyed seeing the animals, just took it all in his stride.  Dont think he was majorly interested, is still a little too young.  But enjoyed playing boo with the Polar Bear who was popping up and down below the water line in search of food!  Lloyd was his usual nosy self.

Monday (today) was spent shopping at Las Americas (http://www.lasamericas.com).  This is a new outlet shopping centre located right on the American/Mexican border inside America.  I have visited outlet centres before on many occasions, they are a great place to pick up cheap clothing and shoes.  We spend about 4 hours walking around, buying clothes for Matthew mainly, with the odd item for ourselves.  To give an example of how cheap it is I was able to pick up Gap T-shirts for £2.50 for Matthew, and Gap jeans for Steve for £20.

The beautiful Polar Bear - I could have watched him all day long
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The only issues we had were the security patrol were eyeing up our van for clamping as Steve parked over 4 spaces (yes I told him not to).  They waited until we had left the vehicle before coming over to it - luckily Steve had to return as he forgot something and was able to sort it out with them and move somewhere else.  Then, just before we left, a car pulled up very very close to our RV, and away from view of anyone else (we had to move it to a very quiet car park on request of security).  Luckily we were in RV at time, as I believe they were definitely planning to break into it.  We quickly started it up and got out of there.

View of the Zoo - see the ariel transport, it gives you an idea of the size of the zoo!
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On this topic I must say I dont feel 100% safe out here.  Can't put my finger on what it is, just the odd incident here and there.  There seem to be a lot of drunken people on the campsite, and not everyone is friendly.  There is also a lot of noise about on the campsite, and late into the evening.  This is not something we had seen in New Zealand.  But it is something we had seen in english campsites, so not sure why it makes me wary.  Probably just tired.

I saw a few funny "American" things these last few days.  Last night there was a family sitting in a big jeep with the engine running, watching some film, with their tent behind on the campsite.  They had the engine running all the time the film was on, as I was doing washing at time so kept passing them.  So much for reducing emissions!  Then there was the 55+ year old woman today in the park who was doing a "power" walk but not walking very fast, and insisted on coming down the 10 yards or so to the bottom of the park, then turning round and going back out.  Was very weird, again something you dont see in the UK.  I thought she was coming to talk to me!!

I am feeling fairly shattered these last few days.  Not quite sure why.  Think it is partly because we are having to concentrate whilst driving, and also its harder looking after the kids now we dont have the babysitter like in Fiji.  We were obviously spoiled there.  I still miss Fiji deeply, think about it all the time, but also try not to think about it as makes me feel a bit depressed that we arent still there!  Will have to go back soon I think.  I miss all the staff too, and often wonder what they are upto at this time, who they are looking after this week.  Never has a resort had such a profound effect on me as Vomo Island did.

The plan currently (if we have a plan!) is to visit Seaworld then possibly move on.  I would like to visit the Wild Animal Park, and have little desire to visit Seaworld personally, but Steve thinks it will be good.  We visited Seaworld when we were childless and thought it was absolutely rubbish and extremely child-oriented, so will be interesting to see if our perception has changed.

We still cant decide on a route after San Diego, though the Grand Canyon is looking a distinct possibility. Steve also has desires to go fishing down in Mexico on a boat that leaves San Diego every evening....Time will tell.