I have an affinity to the San Diego Zoo...  which dates back to 1969 when I was a Senior in High School, and started my first 'paying' job there during the Christmas Vacation. Between that job and selling at the earliest San Diego Comic Cons in the early 1970's, I earned enough money to put myself through college.

  So when my folks asked us to go with them yesterday to see the newest exhibit at the San Diego Zoo, 'Elephant Odyssey', I said sure!  My folks are 'sponsors' of the Zoo, and were among the guests asked to attend the Opening Night festivities for the Odyssey earlier last month.  My dad also has an affinity toward the Zoo as he worked there just before I did, after his retiring from the US Navy. 

The first thing I noticed was the vast openness of the new exhibit... which I knew would be expansive as I had joined my folks for a special luncheon for sponsors many months ago when the exhibit was just on the drawing board, and the Zoo was looking for additional sponsor funds to build it. 

  The second thing I noticed was one of the keepers who came out and was taking care of a couple of elephants within the enclosure.  I kiddingly told Tina, 'Look it's Shanna!".  Within a few minutes out comes another keeper, and Tina said... 'And there's Sheena, just for You!"

  Well, we finished watching the two take care of those two elephants and started moving on with my folks.  Turns out that 'Shanna & Sheena' were also going next to where there were two more elephants in a different part of the Odyssey.  (There are a total of seven elephants mentioned on the Zoo's web site as being at the exhibit, and we saw all seven.)  We watched the two keepers carry a bale of hay and a bucket to the enclosure, and smiled when they started calling the elephants just like real 'Jungle Queens' would!  The elephants came right over to them and started almost posing for the Zoo goers, as seen at the top left photo of this post.

  So what does this blog post have to do with comics or even pop culture?   Well, next month is the Comic Con International San Diego - CCI (or the San Diego Comic Con as we old timers still call it, SDCC).  Even though it starts on a Wednesday afternoon  / evening and ends on a Sunday late afternoon, many Con goers come out earlier in the week to see San Diego itself.  

The San Diego Zoo (and even their Wild Animal Park in Escondido which has more elephants), is but one additional place I could recommend for sight seeing while out here!  After all you gotta get out of the Convention Center and breath 'fresh air' sometime! 

Which is funny for me to say, as Tina and I 'live' at the San Diego Convention Center starting early Wednesday afternoon when we pick up our membership badges!  Then to make sure we have parking in the underground structure, we are there at the wee hours of the morning till late at night after the evening programs stop running!