Take me to a zoo

Take me to a zoo that’s got chimpanzees

Take me to a zoo

Sara(h) Squared were up early again the following morning. We had decided that we would head up to Balboa Park for the day. Our walk through the park took us past the House of Pacific Relations International Cottages. I chuckled at the name, remembering the conversations I had had with my Ottawa gays, Drew and Gray, about what a cottage meant to a gay Englishman. I didn’t want to explain to Ricey and Spangles though. A couple of the “cottages” were open and Spangles went off to explore what was inside the Swedish cottage. Ricey and I ducked round the corner and hid behind the wall of the cottage next door. We waited a while then went to see where she was. I expected her to be outside the cottage looking for us but she wasn’t there. I panicked a little. We eventually found her looking a little lost, phone in hand on the verge of calling us to find out where we had gone.

We walked up through the park and found the entrance to the San Diego zoo. We started our adventure by taking a cable car from near the entrance to the far side of the zoo. As we got into the capsule Spangles pointed out that she wasn’t very good at heights. I had to fight the urge to rock the capsule. The ride was relatively short and I think we were all disappointed that we didn’t spot many animals as we crossed over the tops of the enclosures. We saw some sort of gazelle type animal as we neared the end, which was a relief as Ricey had said that unless she saw an animal she would refuse to get off the cable car.

The zoo lived up to the reputation of being one of the worlds finest. We spent the morning walking round pointing out things to each other, both animals and people. I left Spangles and Ricey in charge of the map and they did a tour for us, taking in virtually the whole zoo. When we go to the panda enclosure there were a couple of pandas sat in the shade not doing much but one was fairly active, pacing along a tree trunk and climbing along the branches. We all tried to get some good photos. Spangles announced that she thought she had several lovely photos of nothing other than panda bum crack. As we past the camels I asked Ricey and Spangles if they knew what a camel with no humps was called (Humphrey). I also told them about the zoo that only had one animal, a dog, on display. It was a shit-zoo. Ricey told me that she really hadn’t missed my jokes while I had been away.

That’s got chimpanzees

After the zoo we were all a little bit peckish so we jumped in a taxi and asked the driver to take us over to Little Italy. We didn’t have a particular place in mind for lunch so took a guess at a cross street to be dropped off at. A few minutes later we pulled up at the side of the road. Ricey told me to get my wallet out and pay the driver.  The driver looked at me in his rear view mirror. “Bloody women” I said to him “Always making the man pay”. He replied that I was lucky to have two women. I offered to leave him one behind in the taxi but he just laughed politely, assuming I was joking.

We wandered up the street, spotting a couple of busy looking places with patios. It was such a lovely day we wanted to try and sit outside. We walked a little further before turning round a retracing our steps. One of the places had an empty table for two and we asked if we could squeeze three of us round it, which we could. The waitress took our order, returning shortly after with our beers and some complimentary garlic bread, which we demolished rather quickly. When our meals arrived the waitress asked if we would like some more garlic bread. She got a three way stereo yes. We all ate well, Spangles announcing at the end of lunch that she didn’t think she would need any more food for the rest of the day. After we left the restaurant and walked back into town we passed a patisserie. Despite the fact that we had only just had lunch Spangles announced that she might be developing a pudding stomach. She resisted temptation though.

We had a nice bimble back through town and to the apartment where we all enjoyed a nice little siesta. Ricey had suggested a place for dinner that had been in her guidebook and had good reviews online. It was a Mexican place called La Puerta and they had plenty of special offers on every Tuesday. By the time we got there the place was very busy, all the tables were full and the bar was packed with people waiting. We put our name on the list and made our way to the bar. We found a tiny spot and ordered a round of cocktails to keep us going until food. We were on to our second cocktail by the time we were shown to our table. The tacos were good and helped soak up some of the alcohol. After dinner we walked back home and finally made it past 10pm before we headed to bed.

Sara(h) Squared with Dean & Horse

Our final morning together in San Diego had arrived. I couldn’t believe how quickly the time had gone by. We loaded the car with our cases and then headed to La Jolla, a little town up the coast, for some breakfast. It was a good American breakfast, the sort that would probably keep me going for the rest of the day. We tried to walk some of it off by taking a walk along the coast. The rocks along the coast were home to large colonies of seals and pelicans. The smell however nearly had us all revisiting our breakfast. I did think about making some comment about the birds smelling but thought better of it. We had enough time to get a couple of photos of Sara(h) Squared with Dean. Ricey had been co-purchaser, along with Marcella, my old secretary from work. He was a perfect travel companion. We headed back to San Diego and they dropped me off at the train station where we said goodbye. I would be seeing them in a few days for Ricey’s birthday but I still had a tear in my eye as I walked into the station. Don’t tell Ricey though, she’ll just call me a great big puff.

“Take me to a zoo that’s got chimpanzees” 
Lyrics from Tell Me on a Sunday from the musical Tell Me on a Sunday