This is where some strange alignment was going on in the universe. Some background: last summer, our great neighbors, the Petersens, moved and left our little happy Katy neighborhood for the great wilderness of Alaska. The girls were particularly upset because Megan, their younger daughter, was a good buddy to both of them. We hoped to be able to travel to Alaska to see them but my research indicated we would either spend an eternity or a couple arms and legs to get there. A couple weeks ago Wendy Petersen texted me saying that Megan and her older sister, Emilie, were in Austin so maybe we could get the girls together out there. I was really bummed to reply that our girls were in Oklahoma and they would be so sorry they missed the opportunity to see their friends.
So, that brings us to Friday in San Diego. On Thursday night Wendy texted me that the girls, their Aunt Michelle and Uncle Dave and cousins Audrey, Alec and Amanda were going to be in San Diego for a football tournament that Alec was in. She gave me Michelle’s phone number and I texted that we would be there and we were planning to hit the San Diego Zoo the next day. Michelle replied that they were planning to go the next day, as well, since that day they just happened to have a bye during the tournament. So far that’s three big coincidences to this point.
We wandered the reptile house and took photos of cool reptiles for Kris Swanson, then met up with the Dickersons, Megan and Emilie.
The San Diego Zoo really is a bucket list kind of item. It’s like Disney for animal people. It even has some amusement rides, a Skifari and evening entertainment. If you’re anywhere nearby you really shouldn’t miss it.
I do have to say though that after experiencing so many of these animals in the wild in Kenya it was kind of depressing to see them in enclosures, no matter how awesome they look. When we saw elephants they were on the move. They might stop at a bush to grab some leaves but they would move on, as a large group, in just a few minutes. These guys looked lonely and bored. 
The lions were less troubling since they are such loners in general anyway.
We really did have a fabulous time at the zoo, made all that much better with the terrific company of old friends.
And of course, the day wouldn’t have been complete without the requisite knee-licking by Uncle Dave.
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