That’s what comes to mind when I think of San Diego:  pandas.  The San Diego Zoo is a place to be experienced.  But I had something in mind that I wanted to see above all else- the pandas!  I got a map and determinedly walked past all the other places that I would normally enjoy seeing at a zoo, because I was on a quest to see them.

I was fortunate because there wasn’t a big crowd at the zoo that day.  I could just stand there and admire the pandas without blocking someone else’s view.  I took pictures with my camera and my phone, because I wanted to get as many photos as possible.  I had arrived just before lunchtime, and they were pacing, waiting impatiently for their food.  There was also a teenaged panda that was asleep on a hammock, limbs flung in every direction.

When the bamboo was brought out, the adult panda just sat and ate, munching on parts of a bamboo stalk and then tossing it aside for the next one.  I assume that the less desirable parts were eaten later.  The younger panda woke up, got a single stalk of bamboo, and sat on the hammock peeling away the bark and eating it.  The zoo staff member assigned to the pandas was offering comments such as, “Their fur feels like a paint brush,” and “Some people think that they’re fat.”  I didn’t think they were fat, just roly-poly.

Pandas are very appealing and delightful to watch.  When I had taken many, many photos I thought I should visit other places in the zoo.  But I found myself wandering back to the pandas, with the simple idea that I would just watch and enjoy them.  It’s every bit as good as a photo.