I haven’t visited the San Francisco Zoo in years, but El Hub and I played hooky and took Connor this week.
It’s been so long since we ventured out of town, especially south to San Francisco (I think last time was last October?), even though it’s only about 25 miles to the Golden Gate Bridge.
We packed a picnic lunch, ALL THE DISINFECTING WIPES, our Caraa masks, and headed out for the day to learn more about our animal friends.
Things are a little different.
All visits 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 buy tickets online beforehand for a specific 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, and very well maintained, and I saw a lot of animals doing casual animal things, not pacing or looking stressed.
Visitors are required to wear masks and social distance at all times, and all of the indoor exhibits are closed. A couple of the dining cafes are open, but you can also bring your own food and drinks, which is what we did. We sat on a big lawn with several socially distanced families to have our lunch.
Run like the wind, ostriches!
It was nice seeing Connor’s eyes light up as she saw so many animals she hasn’t seen before. We meandered for hours and watched penguins plunging into a pool, chimpanzees chomping on romaine lettuce, peacocks preening, and ostriches sprinting — yes, sprinting! — across hills.
Speaking of the ostriches…they are crazy graceful! And so fast. I’d never seen ostriches run long distances before, and when they do, they glide along with their heads hardly even bobbing, while hauling major @ss. They’re like Olympic sprinters!
Layers love you, especially in SF.
I used to live in the city back in the day. It’s been a while since I visited, and I got a stark reminder of the one thing Bay Area peeps always tell visitors when they come to SF — wear layers, because the temperature can swing dramatically, and it’s no joke.
When we drove in at 10, the city was foggy and chilly, but by the time we left four hours later, the sun was out, and it was toasty enough to walk around in a tee shirt and shorts. Yup, if you’ll be visiting SF, wear things you can peel off and 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 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 right now as a small child… I desperately don’t want to lose them.
This hit me hard because of a couple things… First off, I was watching her prance through the grounds and talking to the peacocks (and really anyone who would listen to her), saying “I’m having a such great day,” over and over again. It was the sweetest thing to see pure joy 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 and looking out the car window at the Bay on the drive home. I also 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 enjoyed it at all. Was I crabby? Was I cold and wishing that I’d brought an extra jacket? Did I see penguins? I’m genuinely curious, and I wish I had a journal to look to and find out… It would be nice (and 100% hilarious) to remember who I was back then.
Black Mirror moment…with a hippo
Oh! — I also tried an experiment with my phone while we were there this time. No mindless scrolling and staring at the screen. I only took out my phone when I absolutely needed, which I only did to take some pictures.
I was inspired to do this after watching The Social Dilemma on Netflix the other day. It’s about social media and how it’s changed our lives for better and worse.
I thought about it when I saw a group of people at an exhibit, all with their phones out. They were all recording a hippo happily pushing around a gigantic ball, and I couldn’t help but wonder how many of the people were really in the moment. I dunno… It felt very Black Mirror!
Not gonna lie…it was hard to resist recording that hella cute hippo. For serious! Also, I really didn’t realize how much of an unconscious habit it is for me to quickly check my emails or texts messages or see what’s happening on the ‘gram. I really do waste a lot of time doing a whole lotta nothing while staring at my phone screen…
I’m going to stick with limiting my phone time, though. Hopefully this will allow me to be more present when I’m with my friends and family when we’re together.
Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,
Karen
P.S. TGIF. ???
Looks like you had such a fun family day! I am not a fan of zoos in general because of the whole animals in cages thing, but I will say the San Francisco Zoo is very nice and large and the animals seem well cared for and stimulated. Good for you for trying to look at your phone less and live in the moment! I don’t really get people who record/take pictures of the animals at the zoo. Like how often are you really going to watch or look at those pictures? I can see taking picture of the kids enjoying the zoo like Connor Claire; those pictures you will look back on to see how cute and small she was!
It was a really fun day, and one I hope that she’ll at least be able to remember bits and pieces of.
How’s your Friday going? Good, I hope!
Love love love the animals! What a wonderful day there with El Hub and Connor Claire!
Those zoos that focus on actual conservation get a big thumbs up. The rest, *sob* went to an awful one in Beijing. :’-( Luckily we feel like we live in a constant exotic bird park here and see the occasional monk seal and sea turtle out in the wild.
I was proud of my age and what generation I was raised in when a man asked me on my way to the beach what time it was. I looked at my wrist and thought, “Can’t help you,” then I remembered I had a phone. Really, a phone is not the first thing I think of when someone asks me the time! Yass for the no-cell-phone generation! lol
Also recently pulled up YouTube videos of actual illegal raves. NO PHONES, everyone just dancing, DJ was totally anonymous and not the focus, music was DOPE, and ALL KINDS of people there, totally integrated, no drama, no preening for the camera. Comments were all generally like this. Those were great days but I think every generation’s teens-20s were idyllic.
Hence the value of a journal! No wonder present recollection recorded holds such weight in court, your present recorded memory is so much more accurate than a glamorized memory that’s shifted over time.
It is fun to look back and reread what you thought, especially after an aged perspective. Now, off to find more Moleskins!
I can’t even begin to tell you how grateful I am that my late teens and early 20s (well, all of my 20s, really!) were not documented on social media for prosperity. I made so many mistakes, and I appreciate the fact that I was able to leave those things in the past. Who knows, maybe not having to constantly document everything will come back into fashion again.
I love how Joseph Gordon Levitt put it when he was on “Hot Ones”; something to the effect of Hemingway’s Bohemia is found by turning off your phone.
So glad you guys had a great time at the zoo! These days a little outing like that can be a nice change of pace.
I know what you mean about being in the moment vs. wanting to capture memories for later. Journaling is a great idea too. Pictures don’t necessarily capture your thoughts and feelings at the time.
Max and Louis are snuggling next to me on the couch and I definitely took some pictures. But for a minute I just sat and watched them so I could take a moment to be as relaxed as them. 🙂
Happy Friday!
What a lovely way to spend some time with your kitty boys. It’s so fascinating to me how cat personalities are so different, and how some are snugglers and some just could care less, LOL! One thing that Rosie does that Tabs never did is that she stays with us in the bed all night long! Well, either us or Connor. She loves to be with her humans at night.
Do you guys have any plans for the weekend?
I love Connor in front of the peacock feathers! That must be a new feature, I don’t recall it being there the last we visited the zoo. Then again, Dear Daughter was much, much younger. And I remember having to fight off seagulls to be able to eat our lunch. And buying hot chocolate and cappuccinos from the stand that was near the carousel, so I wouldn’t freeze while Dear Daughter rode around and around so many times. So many wonderful memories of the SF Zoo! I could go on and on and on.
Glad you had a wonderful, memory making day there!
The carousel was closed but when the world opens up fully again (whenever that is), believe me I’ll be the lady drinking all the hot drinks while babygirl goes ’round and ’round and ’round. Did your daughter have one of those zoo keys?!
Happy Friday to you, by the way. It’s *very* smoky up here and the ash if falling from the sky like snow.
Yeah, I think Dear Daughter had a zoo key, because I’m pretty sure Dear Husband had one as a child, too. Bummer that the carousel is closed.
Eek, I hope you are experiencing cleaner air now. It was a relief today on the peninsula. I was actually able to go for a 2 1/2 walk outside. Really nice after spending all day Friday and Saturday indoors with the air purifier running.
I have been wondering the same thing recently – how much time do I spend on my phone and loosing connection to what is really important in the process?
Yup! It’s definitely something to consider.
Hi Karen ,
Glad you all enjoyed your zoo day . We go to the cape May zoo in nj .
Growing up in philly I went to the Philadelphia Zoo which has had major reconstruction because of the fire in the gorilla ? house .
Oh and by the way I still have my key ?
I kept a journal in my teen years, it was about the only thing that kept me going through a lot of the S**T that happened then. I found them recently and they were absolute rubbish, haha! Full of teenage angst and drama and over reaction to stuff that now I would just chill about. Life really does teach you something! It was interesting looking back at the world from a teenage perspective for a while, and there were some interesting bits about stuff we did that I had forgotten about, but I ended up rewriting them with just the bits I wanted to remember, and threw away the bits I would rather forget. Some S**T still hurts even 20 years later.
First time caller, long time listener lol
Karen, I got so excited when I saw the key! I was so hoping it would work for your daughter. My mom still has my yellow key from, well… let’s just say from the disco craze time.
I am from San Jose, and remember many fun adventures in “the city”. Glad the 3 of you had a lovely day out.
What a fab day! So glad you all enjoyed your trip to the zoo. 🙂 I love the pic of Connor, not QUITE tall enough for the antlers. HAHA! Penguins are always cute and fiesta, if a bit stinky. 🙂 I’m definitely not a social media person or someone who’s on my phone much. It’s handy for texting and getting quick answers to things (thanks, Google) and for pictures. But I’m thankful I’m not someone who’s constantly looking at their phone or worrying how many people are going to view/like/share their stuff. Definitely not my thing.