My last day here and then
I'm off on to my next adventure. It was a low-key morning. Big Lissie took me
to the beach. It was so warm outside I just had to take my shoes off and stand
in the cool water. It's a good thing Lissie & I run fast, because a wave
tried to sneak up on us.
I wondered why no one else
wanted to join us but figured it out quickly once we got back to the house -
I'd been set up! Some of the other girls had a surprise going away party
planned for me. They even made a piñata (yum, candy).
Josie had a fabulous weekend checking out the famous San Diego Zoo and their residents! Check out her report below! ^_^ Wow, what a weekend. This
past weekend they took me to the zoo. Did you know they have pandas! I LOVE
pandas.
Of course the first thing
we went to see were the pandas. On the way down there, I saw the coolest form
of transportation. Can we go on that????? Later, they said.
My host said the line gets
really long so it's good to be there early. Unfortunately, the pandas thought
it was too early and were still snoozing. I saw Bai Yun (which means
"White Cloud"). She turns 24 this year and the mom to all the cubs
that have been born here. She looked like a cloud - or a rock covered in fur;
I'm not sure which. We also saw her almost two year old, Xiao Liwu
("Little Gift"), nicknamed "Mr. Wu". I didn't show you a
picture of him because he also looks the same; like a lump of fur.
Partway through the day I
started getting a complex because many of the animals just showed me their
backside when I tried to say hi. The camel told me a joke though, and the
wombat was active (the hosts said that was the first time they'd seen the
wombat up and walking). When we got home, they read me the book,Diary of a Wombat.I laughed a lot!
We also saw koalas and a
sleeping tasmanian devil. Isn't this little guy cute! What's really
special is that a few years ago, two of the koalas here were sent to the zoo in
Stockholm, Sweden. I may not be visiting them, but I will be visiting
Sweden and will yell "Hallå" very loudly. I was told that's
Swedish for "hello".
Then we went toward big cat
canyon to see the amur leopards (the world's most endangered large cat, with
less than 40 left in the wild). We didn't take his photo because I ran into a
little trouble. Arrrrgh -he's going to eat me!
I should be safe up here...
What do you mean they
climb!?!?
Nooooooooooo
Luckily, a nice lady saved
me from the mountain lion
After that ordeal, I wanted
something a little less "exciting". First though, I needed a snack!
Then, we watched the
elephants and polar bears play (no, not together) and finally got to ride the
skyfari. I was so lucky, my gondola had a picture of a panda on it!
Hi,LillyMaiden! Hi, Lissie, Sawako Lilly,
Samantha, Cécile, Marie Grace and Lydia Charlotte! You can see everything from
up here.
On the way out, I said hi
to Janey, one of the orangutans here. Did you know she used to live with humans
and likes to put on makeup! She just had her 52nd birthday last week.
Then, it was time to shop.
I knew just what I wanted.
Hmmpphh! They said I had to
be able to carry whatever I bought, drat. Oh well, this one is still cute.
Maybe my sisters can help name her for me. That's all for now; I'm off to
nap.
Josie here again. I felt
like I was back home today - not with my current sisters, but back home in New
Mexico with my canon family. It started when I saw this road. Just like the
road mi abuelito used to drive the caravan to Mexico City (except this one is
paved).
Then, I ended up in Old
Town. It's considered the birth place of California as it was the where the
first permanent Spanish settlement was. Remember the mission that I showed you
in a previous post? Father Serra built it here first. By the 1820s, while my
sisters and I were living with Papá outside of Santa Fe, a small collection of
adobe buildings had formed (including a rancho that made me feel right at home)
and by 1835, it was called El Pueblo de San Diego.
This
is newer than what mi abuelito used for caravans but it reminded me of him.
My first stop was the
rancho. It was built in 1825 for a Spanish aristocrat but also became a safe
place for women & children during the American occupation in 1846. Here is how it looked way
back when
I wanted to see how the
rooms were all decorated, especially the grand sala but unfortunately, most of
the furniture has been temporarily moved out because they are in the middle of
a restoration. I did find a spinning wheel and some kitchen tools.
This is a water filter.
Since water shortages were a problem here, porous lava rock filters such as
this one was used to clear sediment and debris from the water collected either
from the well or from the San Diego River.
Here is the inner
courtyard, which has a garden. There were many plants we would have used...
...and even a horno .
Nearby, was the sheriff's
office and a jail (I snuck in)
Did you know the largest
gourd farm in the United States is nearby? Look at how pretty these are.
By then, I was hungry so I
had some lunch...
…and finished up with some
shopping! I bought a new sarape for the cool evenings, a fancy sombrero (not
exactly accurate for me but so fun) and a new box from the local tinsmith.
I'll be back soon with more fun to tell you about.
This weekend I went to the
Girl Scouts Operation Thin Mint sendoff on the Midway aircraft carrier. The
Midway (actually, the 3rd ship to be named the Midway) was commissioned from
1945- 1992. It opened up as a museum here in 2004. This event was to celebrate
the scouts sending the cookies overseas.
Look at all these cookies!
I started by writing a thank
you note.
Said hello to Uncle Sam.
Look at how big this place
is (and we only stayed on the flight deck).
Almost
there…. Ready to go.
And a couple of other shots.
We left before the cookies
flew away this year, but here is a photo from a previous year.
We also visited a yummy
chocolate shop this weekend - my sisters would have loved this!
Look at all that chocolate
being made back there, mmmmmmm.
This is just what I needed.
I think a small snack for
later is in order.
Celebrating quatro de Mayo night! (The restaurant was too crowded on actual Cinco de Mayo night!) ^_^
