A Trip to the Zoo
In January of 2024, we were living in Prescott, AZ (pronounced Press-KIT, they will not let you forget) and we found the area to be such a great location to everything you could want. Don’t get me wrong, the town itself was very nice, especially as a “homebase” sort of thing, and I plan on making a post at some point about the past cities we’ve lived in, but the main draw for us was the proximity to other areas. I mean, in just four short hours, you could be in Las Vegas, NV. And a little further at 6 hours, you could be in Los Angeles, CA instead. Now, I know what a lot of you are thinking though -
“Four short hours? What does that even mean? How can an hour be short, but yet still an hour? You don’t even need to say the word ‘short’ and you KNOW how much I hate redundancy”
To which I say, “Calm down, we drive a bunch so 4 hours is not a long time for us. Any place that we can get to within 7-8 hours is a potential weekend spot when you’re already 40 hours away from home. Also it’s not healthy to get hung up on the little things in life so easily. Choose what to be pedantic about”
At any rate, we were looking around while finding things to do within a 6 hour range and landed on the idea of checking out San Diego. After checking out a little radius of San Diego, a plan was formed! We decided we would leave on Thursday a little after Anna got off work, and I would drive while she slept. We made sure Syrup’s Feeder was set, loaded up Pancakes with her favorite bone, and hit the road.
Now, one of our favorite things while traveling is to see just how much stuff we can fit into as short amount of time as possible. Whatever we can add to the list, we weigh out and have nailed down the process so far, or so we like to think. This trip was going to be pretty simple though, as we would have TWO days in San Diego, compared to our normal 24 hour trip. This helped us take in a few more things and enjoy our time there at a slower pace, which was very much welcomed.
The drive over the mountain out of Prescott was always a good time, especially during the winter months. The weather was typically clear, but the elevation made for some unexpected snow storms (snow storms? in Arizona? I get it, but it’s a thing) While driving over, the sun was getting lower and lower as we descended from the mountain. The skies were cloudy, but the sun was shining through underneath, hitting the mountains in the distance, while also providing a beautiful glow for all the saguaro around us. I just had to pull over and snap a pic real quick, before we lost sun light.
Saguaro at Sunset
After getting back on the road, the rest of the drive was nice and smooth. We arrived to our hotel, the Hotel Indigo on 9th Ave. It was exceptionally nice for the price. The only complaint I would have about it is that the loading/unloading area was WAY too busy, especially for a dog that loves to sniff and lick every single person she sees, but also there was construction going on so that didn’t help the chaos. Your mileage may vary if you decide to stay here. Once we got the car parked and the bags up to the room, we were able to breathe for a second and make sure Pancakes was comfy. Once she was fed, we set out for dinner.
View from the Room
It was Anna’s turn to pick restaurants on this trip, and she did not disappoint! For dinner that night, we went to the Little Italy part of town for none other than Underbelly Ramen. It was chilly and late, and we were afraid we had missed our chance, but we were greeted warmly by the staff and shown to our table where we had the most chill waiter ever. I am so sorry, but I can’t remember your name since it’s been like 16 months and I’m just now getting to this, but if you know who you are, you were amazing! If I remember his name, I’ll make sure to mention it later. Hooked us up with free stickers and everything. Not only was the staff amazing, but the food was incredible. I felt bad for getting there so late at night, and with so few people there, but it didn’t matter. They put their all into those dishes and it showed. The waiter chilled with us and filled us in on a couple plac- GIDEON. His name was Gideon. If you’re out there dude, I hope you’re doing well! If you go here, make sure to get the Oxtail Dumplings, highly recommend!
Underbelly Sign
After getting our stickers and closing our tab, we headed back to the hotel. When we got back, I had to walk Pancakes and get her ready for bed. While walking her, I started talking to one of the door guys downstairs and he had recommended us check out an area called La Jolla up the coast a bit. Funnily enough, after I got back up to the room to tell Anna about it, she had not only heard about it, but also had reservations to a restaurant there for the next night. So hopefully, this La Jolla place is worth the trip up.
I can tell you 100 percent that it is indeed, worth the trip up, but more on that in a bit.
Also, I just wanted to share this picture of Pancakes appreciating the floor height windows in our hotel room for her viewing pleasure.
The next morning, we had tickets to the San Diego Zoo, and decided to get there as soon as it opened, to avoid the crowds. This was the move for sure. The temp was perfect and the atmosphere was just as calm as could be. I had recently gotten a new Peak Design Capture Clip, so I was testing it out that day (shout out to PD, great gear) with my Sony a7Rii, along with the Tamron 70-200. While I’m not a huge fan of the Tamron line, just due to the distortion on some of edges, this lens was pretty solid with minor tweaking. For the price range, it did very well, as long as you’re good with either slow AF or manual focus. That being said, it kept a crisp line with a good amount of bokeh when wide open. I’ll post some of my favorites below.
The weather stayed amazingly clear all day, so we were able to take our time walking through all the exhibits of the San Diego Zoo. We understand that there are some zoos that are not humane or ethical, and we tend to avoid those places. However, after learning about the inner workings and conservation efforts of the SDZ, we were more than happy to support them. The animals here (some endangered) were well cared for, and rehabilitated, where some will be re released in all parts of the world. I am VERY lightly grazing over the vast amount of work and care that goes into this place, but there are so many more qualified people on this subject. I’m just here to take pictures. Here is some reading from said qualified people:
Katherine Zhou Rubinstein, MCM, DVM reflects on her time at the San Diego Zoo and makes a good point that the wildlife care specialists’ opinions are valued, along with many other factors leading to San Diego Zoo being the “future of zoos” - The Future of Zoos: Reflections on an Externship at the San Diego Zoo
And here is a list of all the projects that the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance has been involved with - SDZWA Science List
Now that we have that covered, here are some more pictures of the animals and the zoo.
I wasn’t thrilled with most of the pictures after reviewing them, but that was just due to me being lazy and relying on AF on a very harsh day, so I don’t blame the new lens or anything. All part of the process. Now then, we made our way over to the other side of Balboa Park and went to the Japanese Friendship Garden & Museum. We were able to unwind a bit from all the hustle at the zoo by walking through one of the most serene gardens we’ve been to yet. The koi pond provided a place for us to get lost in the scenery, and the zen garden had some of the most well kept Bonsai trees I’ve seen. The walk alone was just something I could easily find myself doing once a week if we lived in the area. The pictures below are from our walk around Balboa Park, into and around the garden.
We headed back to the car and made our way up the coast to the neighborhood of La Jolla, where we had reservations for a restaurant called George’s at the Cove. Along the way we stopped at Point Loma, which is a Naval base on the opposite side of the bay. The view was incredible up there, well worth the 20 minute detour. After a short drive further up the coast we got to George’s. Everything from the food to the atmosphere was easily a 10/10. We had found parking at a nearby parking garage, where it was only a 2 minute walk, and if memory serves correctly was comped by the restaurant. Just keep the receipt! Upon walking up, we did notice a valet booth, but I didn’t catch the price unfortunately. The area itself was just as calm as the surrounding beaches, with a variety of local stores and restaurants offering anything you could ever need. Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of the surrounding areas. We made our way to the table, which was outside on the patio. I just want to remind you that it was early January of last year when we were here, so definitely the off season, and definitely a tad bit chillier than you would think. That being said, this was by far the most memorable dinner we’ve ever had. The weather was a tad chilly, but the amazing food and drinks kept us warm. I still chase that high from my first bite of their crab bucatini while watching the sunset over the Pacific Ocean in this small ocean town, just a small drive away from the city. I took a quick video on my phone during the meal, but it does no justice. Highly recommend the trip to visit this place if you’re in the San Diego area!
After a wonderful evening on the coast, we drove back to the hotel and got ready to head out the next day. With the luggage and the dog loaded up, we set out to head back home. However, I knew Anna didn’t have work the next day, and we were already driving 6 hours, so I decided to surprise her by “missing our exit” and made a 2 hour detour for Joshua Tree National Park. We ended up getting into town fairly late, but luckily I had the place all set days in advance. Joshua Tree had been on our list for a while, but we just hadn’t had a chance to make the drive yet. I rechecked my confirmation email from AirBnB for our little cottage for the night, complete with a “hot tub under the stars”, which was a CRAZY good deal at the time. I thought that it must have just been luck, or my planning prowess. Nevertheless, we made our way to dinner first at Pappy and Harriets in Pioneertown and this was a highlight of the visit. The pork chops were amazing. We were tired, so no pictures taken.
Now, I will admit that I thought I had won some brownie points with Anna, and while she was excited and happy for the surprise, she let me know why she had originally left Joshua Tree off the trip. Apparently during the winter months, winds can get insanely bad. Like, 50mph gusts. Mix that with fine desert sand and little bushes with terrible root structures and you have yourself an S Grade Dust storm on your hands, partner. This fancy hot tub under the stars? Goggles not included, so we were out. However, this house was legitimately one of the coziest places we have ever been. It was a missionary style house with very warm, welcoming furnishings. Here is the listing, for reference. I unfortunately was too preoccupied with the Darude - Sandstorm going on outside to take photos. The sounds of the desert hitting the window at 45mph had Pancakes freaking out, so we had to run the bath water to make enough noise to drown it out while she snuggled under the fire place. After we made it to bed, we awoke to a beautiful sunrise and made our way into the park. The chaos from the night before was worth it because the drive through Joshua Tree is still one of our favorite scenic drives to date. The town itself is lovely, and the surrounding area is just a great place to see, even if just for a day. We want to make it back in the spring sometime for a few days and try a few hikes, so we’ll see! For now, enjoy the pictures of the park below.
Also, we went back to Pioneertown (where Pappy and Harriets was) during the daytime and checked it out. There were a few little stores open at the time, but just a really neat little town that was built as a movie set years ago. We checked out the stores and got a few souvenirs, along with some really good hand salve made to help out dry skin in the desert, which I still use to this day. Definitely worth a check out.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, we had seen all we had to see for now, and had to get back to Prescott. Along the way back, we got hit with a small blizzard on the mountain, but managed to get through just fine. I really enjoy going back through and detailing out the trips we go on, so I am going to do some more in the future of past trips, along with any trips we go on, so keep an eye out! Thank you for making it this far, I really appreciate it.
Later taters
