View the San Diego Zoo

What better way to top off our last full day in San Diego than visiting the #1 ranked zoo in the US? I was looking forward to this day as I've heard so many great things about the San Diego Zoo! The lasting impressions I took with me were: the zoo was enormous (it would be difficult to see the entire place in one day), and the set up of the entire park and exhibits was extremely impressive. Just like the Wild Animal Park, you really felt up close and personal with these active animals. We saw all kinds of apes (gorillas, orangutans, monkeys, chimpanzees), big cats (tigers, leopards, lions), bears (polar, panda, brown and koala), hippos, birds, giraffes, kangaroos and so many other species that I can't list them all!

Quick picture before we got started mapping out our trail path to view the "aminals", as Sophie calls them:

Sophie was having her own conversation with the gorillas. She was mesmerized when the mommy and baby came right up to the glass and the adult gorilla was looking at her. If there wasn't a glass partition, she would have been petting the gorillas:

Last thing we did was visit the Children's Zoo section, where there were even more animals! Sophie was fortunate to get to pet billy goats and sheep in this petting zoo. Just like the day before, she insisted on petting each and every one before we left the petting area. I am so pleased that she's not afraid of most animals and really has an appreciation for them. Though, in this picture she's petting one and already looking for the next billy goat she could pet and hug:

Sophie really wanted to get down on their level: