San Diego - Day 1

We were all excited when the day for our San Diego trip finally arrived.  We were up early and on our plane at 8:15.  The flight is pretty short so we had a full day ahead of us when we arrived in San Diego.

The forecast predicted rain that day but when we landed and checked again, the rain wasn't expected to start until 2pm, so we decided to go ahead and see the Zoo.  First we stopped at the hotel to meet up with Andy and Amy and Sawyer, and drop off our bags.  When we arrived at the zoo a little before 11 it was overcast but very comfortable outside.  The first thing we did (after taking a few pictures) was get on the bus that goes around the zoo and lets you see a lot of animals in a short amount of time.  It was about 30 seconds into our bus ride that the rain started, and it didn't stop for the rest of the day.  It was really just a constant drizzle, but still.

Even though we were all cold and wet, the rain had two major benefits.  First, the animals were very active and we were able to see just about all of them (instead of having lots of animals hiding in the backs of their enclosures, napping).  Second, there were no crowds to deal with.  In fact, we practically had the whole place to ourselves.  I really appreciated this when we arrived at the Panda area.  There was a long queue that we just breezed through, and even felt comfortable lingering for a moment to take a few pictures before letting the people behind us have their turn.  AND Bai Yun, the mama Panda, was very close to the observation area.  She was maybe 6 feet away from us.  Very cool.

It's hard to see in this picture, but the mama gorilla is actually nursing the baby.
The baby would nurse with the mother, then the father would come break up the
party and the baby would walk away, then the baby would wander back
to the mother to nurse again.  It was really neat to watch.

Another mama and baby.
The picture doesn't do it justice - the hippos are HUGE.  The video below might help.

This guy came over to us to say hello.

  

Rain-soaked but happy about our day at the zoo!

We left the zoo in the mid-afternoon and went back to the hotel.  I took Cat to the San Diego LDS Temple to do baptisms there while the rest of the crew went swimming at the hotel.  Last spring when Pres. Durrant spoke in General Conference about his wife wanting to go to temples while on vacation (read it HERE) I thought I should do a better job of that myself.  And after the experience Cat and I had in San Diego, I am even more convinced that it's a good idea.  It was so special to show up at our appointed time and have a small group of temple workers man the baptistry just for us.  The matron came and talked just to us, giving us a beautiful devotional that made the experience even more meaningful.  I hated the thought of the workers coming to the baptistry just to do the few names we brought for Cat, so I ended up being baptized also, thinking that would make it more worth their while.  (This meant that I did the family names and Cat did temple file names, but that was fine.)  It really was a wonderful experience for both Cat and me, and gave us an excuse to talk about the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and the purpose of temples to a couple of Lyft drivers.

Once Cat and I battled the evening traffic and made it back to the hotel, we all left together to eat at a restaurant someone recommended called "Mona Lisa" in Little Italy.  We didn't think the food was that remarkable but I had to appreciate the atmosphere, and the coloring pages the kids received.  

By the time we left the restaurant, the kids were so tired they were falling asleep in their seats, even though it was only about 8:30 Utah time.  I guess we wore them out.  Day 1?  Success.