A day at the zoo
I haven’t went to the San Francisco Zoo in years, however El Hub as well as I played hooky as well as took Connor this week.

It’s been so long because we ventured out of town, particularly south to San Francisco (I think last time was last October?), even though it’s only about 25 miles to the golden gate Bridge.

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We packed a picnic lunch, ALL THE DISINFECTING WIPES, our Caraa masks, as well as headed out for the day to learn much more about our animal friends.

Things are a little different.

All check outs are by reservation only now to enforce a lower maximum occupancy (a maximum of 50% capacity, although there were far fewer people than that on a weekday). You can’t just show up on a whim. You have to purchase tickets online beforehand for a particular time, which is great. It really seems like the zoo has taken the pandemic seriously. Plus, the animals seem very well cared for. Enclosures are large, not overcrowded, as well as very well maintained, as well as I saw a lot of animals doing casual animal things, not pacing or looking stressed.

Feisty penguins
BTW, peacocks are all over the place! Det er så sejt!
Visitors are required to wear masks as well as social distance whatsoever times, as well as all of the indoor exhibits are closed. A couple of the dining cafes are open, however you can likewise bring your own food as well as drinks, which is what we did. We sat on a huge lawn with several socially distanced families to have our lunch.

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Run like the wind, ostriches!

It was good seeing Connor’s eyes light up as she saw so numerous animals she hasn’t seen before. We meandered for hours as well as viewed penguins plunging into a pool, chimpanzees chomping on romaine lettuce, peacocks preening, as well as ostriches sprinting — yes, sprinting! — across hills.

Speaking of the ostriches…they are crazy graceful! as well as so fast. I’d never seen ostriches run long distances before, as well as when they do, they glide along with their heads hardly even bobbing, while hauling major @ss. They’re like Olympic sprinters!

The grounds as well as plants are so beautiful.
Connor testing out a 40-year-old zoo “key” we got from neighbor. You place the essential inside one of the informational display audio boxes on the grounds, as well as then turn it to play an informative recording. Unfortch, the essential didn’t work anymore. I think it was developed for a system that was phased out years ago!
Layers love you, particularly in SF.

I used to live in the city back in the day. It’s been a while because I visited, as well as I got a stark pointer of the one thing Bay area peeps always tell visitors when they come to SF — wear layers, since the temperature can swing dramatically, as well as it’s no joke.

Unsurprisingly, all the huge cats wanted to do was nap!
When we drove in at 10, the city was foggy as well as chilly, however by the time we left four hours later, the sun was out, as well as it was toasty sufficient to walk around in a tee t-shirt as well as shorts. Yup, if you’ll be going to SF, wear things you can peel off as well as put back on if you need to.

Note to self: write in your journal tonight.

Also, while we were there, I had a major “aha!” moment about journaling, of all things. Basically, I gotta start doing it once again consistently, even if it’s just a few lines every day; otherwise, my memory is going to erase all of these fleeting, sweet moments with CoyCoy best now as a small child… I desperately don’t want to lose them.

This hit me hard since of a couple things… very first off, I was viewing her prance through the grounds as well as talking to the peacocks (and really anybody who would listen to her), saying “I’m having a such terrific day,” over as well as over again. It was the sweetest thing to see pure delight on her face. I always want to remember it. ?

Second, while we were walking around I started thinking about a school trip I took to the SF Zoo when I was in sixth grade. I remember foggy, faint snippets of that day, like making my way back to the entrance as we were leaving as well as looking out the vehicle window at the Bay on the drive home. I likewise remember all the “cool kids” listening to Lisa Lisa on their Sony Walkman headphones (OMG!).

But, for the life of me, I can’t remember who I hung out with that day, or if I even delighted in it at all. Was I crabby? Was I chilly as well as wishing that I’d brought an additional jacket? Did I see penguins? I’m genuinely curious, as well as I wish I had a journal to look to as well as discover out… It would be good (and 100% hilarious) to remember who I was back then.

Black Mirror moment…with a hippo

Åh! — I likewise tried an try out my phone while we were there this time. No mindlessrulle såvel som stirrer på skærmen. Jeg tog kun min telefon ud, da jeg absolut havde brug for, som jeg kun gjorde for at tage nogle billeder.

Jeg blev inspireret til at gøre dette efter at have set det sociale problem på Netflix den anden dag. Det handler om sociale medier, så godt som det er ændret vores liv for meget bedre såvel som værre.

Jeg tænkte på det, da jeg så en gruppe mennesker på en udstilling, alle med deres telefoner ud. De optager alle en flodhest lykkeligt skubbe omkring en enorm bold, så godt som jeg ikke kunne hjælpe, men spekulerer på, hvor mange af folket virkelig var i øjeblikket. Jeg dunno … det følte meget sort spejl!

Ikke vil lyve … det var svært at modstå optagelse, som Hella søde flodhest. For seriøst! Jeg forstod også ikke, hvor meget af en ubevidst praksis det er for mig at hurtigt kontrollere mine e-mails eller teksterbeskeder eller se, hvad der sker på ‘Grammet. Jeg vil virkelig spilde meget tid på at gøre et helt lotta intet, mens du stirrer på min telefonskærm …

Et kort over zoologisk have
Jeg skal dog holde fast ved at begrænse min telefontid. Forhåbentlig vil dette gøre det muligt for mig at være meget mere til stede, når jeg er sammen med mine venner såvel som husstand, når vi er sammen.

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Din venlige kvarter Charm Addict,

Karen.

S.s. Tgif. ???