According to everything I’ve heard, the San Diego Zoo was a “MUST DO.” Everyone said it was really incredible and unlike any zoo in America. Supposedly, it is the #1 zoo in the United States. It better be for the $45 a day adult tickets! I mean seriously? That’s half a Disneyland ticket! My review? Eh. I mean, it’s still a zoo. It’s still crowded, hot, and makes me kind of sad to see wild animals in tiny cages. However, I was offered a coupon to go with some of our friends, so I tagged along with them last week to see what all the excitement was about.

Once we arrived, we headed to the koala exhibit to see the little cuddly marsupials. They had a large exhibit and were mostly just relaxing in their trees or enjoying some leaves.

The next thing we saw was my favorite part! It was their cheetah exhibit. The cool thing though was each cheetah had a best friend that stayed with them 24/7. Their best friend? A dog!!! Apparently the dogs being around the cheetahs keep them calm. So calm in fact that they often walk the cheetahs around the zoo on a leash! Can you imagine!? The dogs and cheetahs are raised together from birth, so they are used to being together even if their schedule or exhibit changes. How would you like to be the first dog they tried out this combination on? Hah! They were nuzzling an playing together…it was precious! The pair we saw were Bakka and Miley.

How cute are they? I loved it! Next we strolled through some other various exhibits…

After exploring a chunk of the zoo, we made sure to checked out the panda bear exhibit. They volunteer said they have the only female panda outside of China, and she has birthed all of the cubs at the San Diego Zoo. This handsome guy was climbing all over the place while we were there…too cute!

The last exhibit we checked out was the Orangutan area. There was one male and three females in this large exhibit. The big guy walking on the ground below is the male. The orangutan up on the ropes is pregnant right now; she’s due in October! Can you imagine climbing around like that when you were pregnant!? Ya right!

I’m pretty sure the best pat of the exhibit though was how this sweet girl, Karen, traveled around the exhibit. She LITERALLY used this method of transportation to get from one side of the exhibit to the other. It was cracking me up so much, I took a quick video.

How cute is it that she rolls everywhere!?! I loved it! After the monkeys we decided it was time for a quick ice cream snack, and guess what? I ran into a girl I know from A&M! What are the odds of that? I guess the Aggie Network really does extend everywhere! Gig ’em!

Overall, it was a fun day, and if you are a zoo fan you should definitely check it out. However, if you want to save $45, I’d say a day at the beach is just as well spent (and free!)! Hope y’all enjoyed the quick zoo review!