Category: Miscellaneous

San Diego

  • September 5, 2011

During my stay in San Diego, this was my hotel room:

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I spent a lot of time in there, working on the presentation (which went well) and the paper. The hotel itself was fancy and very, very large. Here’s a view from the 40th floor bar:

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That’s looking south, into San Diego harbour. The convention center is behind the Marriot hotel. Those boats look tiny, but they are not! I doubt anyone with a little fishing boat could ever afford the marina fees there. Here’s the view on the other side:

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Across the bay you can see an aircraft carrier. I forget the name, but that’s one of the current operational carriers of the US Navy. It’s stationed here in San Diego (along with 3 more I believe).

My room was on the 8th floor, looking toward the marina you can see in the above shot. Here’s a photo I took out at night:

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Someone said the fireworks (which were being launched from a barge) were for Seaworld. I have my doubts though, since Seaworld is a bit to the North of here. At any rate, they were fun to watch 🙂

On one of my days there this guy came into port:

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Although it serves a similar purpose it is not strictly an aircraft carrier. See the opening at the back? That’s to launch ships and amphibious vehicles. This carrier is specific to amphibious launches, and from the deck specializes in VTOL aircraft such as helicopters or harriers. The size was just incredible. Quite a spectacle to watch, and believe me the crowds had formed on the docks!

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Whever I may roam, I seem to always buy an instant lottery ticket. I only won once away from home, and that was in England. And I never cashed it in! (Florence has it now… I wonder if she can cash it?)

So, this interim San Diego post (the next one will be about boats!) ends on a highnote:

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Mouth-watering isn’t it? Well, it worked on me:

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  • Posted in Food
  • Robert

Paddington Bear

  • September 4, 2011

My BFF Florence is off to England for a vacation tomorrow. Although I didn’t tell her, I’m quite jealous!

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She calls herself a bear, and her hotel is in Paddington. Coincidence isn’t it?

She promises me she’ll be blogging, so we can all experience her adventures via her blog (StefkaFTW, link at right). I predict Fish’n’chips at some point…

Have fun Florence! Make it a trip to remember 🙂

  • Posted in Miscellaneous
  • Robert

San Diego Zoo

  • September 3, 2011

It’s been a busy few weeks! But let me rewind a bit, to before school and before Irene, and remind you all I spent a week in San Diego. The next few blog entries will describe that week, and I’m going to start with San Diego Zoo!

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I don’t know what the above animal is called, so I will refer to is as a ‘Long Necked Galoot’. It was one of many weird and wonderful animals I beheld on my trip to what is probably the best zoo I have ever visited.

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Since I arrived early, I was able to see the usual sedentary beasts, such as Koala’s and Wombat’s, actually being active! These enclosures were not far from the entrance, and were the first start of a nagging theory that formed in my mind…

Not too far down the road I came upon this exhibit, and immediately thought of my mum:

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She love’s  meerkats, and she would  love this enclosure with the massive lookout tower for the watchman to sit atop:

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He was a lazy sod to be true, watching in name only. He gave no regard to the crowds observing from only a few feet away, and his fellows happily dug close enough to be to be almost grabbed.

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Dung beetles and a massive hairy spider! These were in a walkway that led under the enormous elephant enclosure, which looked like this:

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The elephants themselves were split by gender, and I had fun watching them waiting for one of them to emerge from her bedroom into the enclosure. Believe me when I say she was in no hurry!

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The zoo is massive and built on natural slopes, so it’s quite a strenuous place to walk around for many hours (as I did). Cleverly, they have (free) bus tours that go all around the zoo and give a good view of most animals. I hopped onto these once or twice during my visit.

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And here is a gallery of bears!

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It’s probably obvious from the shots, but the enclosures are wonderful, and very rarely is the visitor separated from an animal by bars or any other obstruction aside from moats or glass. Here’s one rare example:

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When I was standing there the male put his head back and lazily roared. It was frightening and very, very loud. Lots of kids had a real scream and giggle afterwards 🙂

One of the absolute highlights of the trip was the tiger feeding. Mum and her two babies were being tossed full steaks (probably sliced galoot, to be true) and enjoying it mightily. They put on a good show for the massive crowd:

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I managed to get some decent video, which you can see here:

Another highlight was the human-feeding. I got a good shot of that as well:

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Capybara madness!

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People keep these guys as pets you know? 🙂

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By the time I rode the ‘skyfari’ I was pretty sure something fishy was going on. San Diego zoo was very reminiscent of Taronga, in many ways. On my second skyfari ride I rode with an employee, and she told me the zoo has a close relationship with Taronga, which I think explains why.

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These photos on scrape the surface of what is a massive zoo with a vast variety of animals to see and truly beautiful landscaping. If you’re ever in the city, consider this #1 on your places to visit!