We rode the Africa tram first before the line got too long. They get you pretty close to some of the animals which is cool considering it's not an extra charge like some of the more personal tours they have. We spotted a vulture with her baby. I only had my 18-200 on so couldn't get a close enough pic but here are some cropped versions.
I realized I wasn't going to get close enough so I switched to my 300mm + 1.4tc for the rest of the ride. We saw a bunch of other animals which was pretty cool since they are out in the open and not behind cages like at the zoo. This is probably the closest we will get to Africa for a long time. I snapped a few others, and one of a baby Giraffe towards the end.
We hit the park in about 3 hours, and I got a few other decent shots.
The lion cubs were out during the am. They pretty much laid in the shade the whole time tho. There was about 2 seconds where they played together but I had my long lens on and didn't get a good shot.
The Gorilla exhibit had a new baby. I was able to snap a few before she took it behind some logs.
After the park, we headed down to SD. We had dinner at OB Noodle House which we saw on Triple D. We had the pho, spicy garlic wings and house fried rice.
I'm not a huge fan of pho, but I liked the broth....J said because it was milder than some of the ones she goes to. She said some of the ones around here are better.
But the garlic wings were so good...crispy, juicy and tons of flavor. The best wings we ever had were the fish sauce wings at Pok Pok in Portland, but these were probably second best.
The fried rice was also good, had their house sausage, shrimp and some other kind of beef. It had a sweetness to it like the Chinese sausage but it was really flavorful.
We would definitely come back. Other reviews said the sizzling fish was good so maybe we'll have to get that next time.
We headed over to harbor island to take skyline pics at sunset/blue hour. Clouds rolled in tho and there wasn't much of a sunset. Blue hour wasn't all that great either as most of the color was blocked by the clouds. I still managed to get a panoramic of downtown SD with the Coronado bridge.
Obligatory shot
Skyline at Twilight
I woke up early the next day for morning twilight/sunrise pics looking across from Coronado.
It was still cloudy but the blue/purple hues from twilight still came through. Twilight was over the next 30 second exposure I took right after this as it doesn't last very long. The water was nice and calm making for some good reflections. There was no sunrise so I headed back to the hotel early.
We went to an early breakfast at Hash house. I read reviews to get there before 8am to avoid huge crowds so we got there by around 7:45 so there was no wait. I ordered the sage chicken and waffles and J had the corn beef hash.
Portions are ridiculous...probably big enough to feed a few people. The chicken and waffles was meh. Bit dry and not that much flavor. Roscoes kills it by a mile. The corn beef hash however was good. If we ever went back, they have a smoked salmon scramble that sounds good. As we were leaving, the line outside was crazy. Not sure what all the hype is about, but we'll have to try it again when we are back.
We spent the day shopping at the mall near hotel circle. On the way out we headed over to Lolita's for some carne asada fries.
Still a koo spot, but maybe next time we will try one of the other highly rated Mexican joints in the area for their carne asada fries.
We stopped by the Carlsbad outlets and had some Menchie's and called it a trip. No recent trips on the horizon. We have been wanting to go back to Seattle tho for some Serious Pie and Salumi and I want to retake city pics at twilight. Who knows, maybe in the near future.
Brandon Yoshizawa
B.A.Y | photography
www.bay-photography.com
No comments:
Post a Comment
Brandon Yoshizawa
B.A.Y | photography
Landscape and Wildlife photography
http://www.bay-photography.com/