156 PANIC AT THE ZOO

When I went to breakfast this morning, I had nothing planned and had absolutely no idea what I was going to do.  Just the same as yesterday.  I knew I had to make one more trip to the San Diego Zoo and I know I only have 5 days in which to do it.  I’m figuring that the weekend might be busy as hell and I’d kind of like to avoid it and Monday, I probably shouldn’t push my luck the day before departure, so today became that day.

I showed up at the zoo with the goal of catching the areas that I missed last week.  I had some priorities to accomplish.  Once I found out there are Orangutans at the zoo, I absolutely had to see them.  The polar bears were another priority.  I wanted to try and catch the tigers being active and so that was my mission for the day.

YOUNG ORANGUTAN PLOTTING

My feet and legs are still hurting me and so is the burn, so I opted to rent another scooter.  I’ve gone from being embarrassed to use one to almost dependant on them, well at least for mega-walks like these.  It’s interesting to note that it is actually slower getting around.  Partly because they don’t move too fast, but partly because you must constantly slam on the brakes as people step right in front of you, or just stop for no reason.

Certain animals I have a soft spot for, and they are hard to get photos of, so I like to make the best of it.  Yesterday was over 400 shots of elephants and babies.  Today I quickly found the Orangutans and shot 335 shots of them and another primate and her baby in their enclosure.

Moving on to the tiger enclosure, they were both fast asleep as usual.  But I was in no rush, so I parked the scooter next to the glass.  There was a tiger sleeping right against the glass.  After quite some time, he started to get active, but he was too close, so I got shots with the iPhone and then when he moved off, got more with the big camera.

From there I started touring and came to a penguin enclosure, which included a waterfall you could go behind.  I used the iPhone there to video the waterfall front and back in normal and in slow motion.  That is truly the last time I can say I had the phone.  I kept exploring and found the polar bears.  They weren’t very white anymore though as they kept rolling in a mud puddle and then in the dirt.

ONE MUDDY POLAR BEAR

When I got to the end of that segment, I reached for the iPhone to record some more video, and it was gone.  I checked all my pockets.  I checked the floor of the scooter and even checked the camera bag.  No luck at al.  The phone is missing.  A moment of panic set in.  There is a lot of sensitive info stored on the phone as well as photos.  I need it for booking Uber and I especially need it for the return trip home.

So, I started retracing my path, with no thought I would ever see the phone again.  It didn’t dawn on me that the phone is locked and can only be opened with facial recognition, but still, it was a panic-stricken time.  Normally, there are zoo employees everywhere, but of course now that I needed one, there are none to be found.

I finally made it up a huge hill.  The scooter stalled out twice and I had to turn it off and let the battery recover slightly, however, the scooter wasn’t the same after.  Just not the same speed.  At the top of the hill, I found three employees and reported the loss to them.  They immediately called guest services/lost and found for me, and discovered there had been a black iPhone X turned in.  So, before I even reported it, someone had turned it in.  Well, at least I hope it’s mine.

The quickest path to guest services was to go across a very high bridge that I had been avoiding, due to my fear of heights.  Thankfully it is very wide, and I drove right down the center of it, never looking to either side.  I finally got to guest services, they presented me with the phone that I was certain was mine.  But I had to unlock it first to prove it was mine.  That was easily done, and I had my phone back.

I was so grateful, I asked for contact info for the person who found it.  They either didn’t have it or wouldn’t tell me.  I don’t know which.  So, I purchase two general admission tickets and asked that they be given to the person who turned it in, or if they didn’t know that, then to donate them to a person in need, so that they might visit the zoo.  A pay it forward scenario.  So, being very relieved I called Uber and came back to the hotel.