San Diego Zoo

We were both pleasantly surprised with the quality of the meals while we were in California (with the exception of Los Angeles) but were shocked by how large their 'normal' sized portions are. Even smaller/lighter meals were usually too much for me.

The exception though was this amazing seafood stew call Ciopino and we just couldn't get enough of it.

The bib was optional but necessary

One of the highlights of our trip was San Diego Zoo and we spent an entire day there. It's billed as being the best zoo in the world and they're not far wrong. It's not as tacky as some of the British zoos we've visited and even the restaurants served decent food, instead of just burgers and fries. The only thing that could have made the day any better would have been if had been a bit warmer.

I could quite easily has slipped this little fella into my case to bring home

I know tortoises are slow but it took me several minutes of watching this one, waiting for it to move, before I realised it was a statue.....doh!

This cheetah cub was so cute and not very old at all

The King of the Jungle doing what male lions do best..............not a lot

At least someone was glad it was a bit chilly

This is about as close to an otter as I'll ever get, it would be lovely to see a wild one though

And here he is, the main reason we went to the zoo. Their male Giant Panda. I've wanted to see a live one since I was a child and never for a moment thought I would.

We queued for 45 minutes but got to spend 5 minutes watching him. His mate was inside the panda house but we also got to see their off-spring who looked to be almost full grown.

Isn't he spectacular...........and so laid back

San Diego was the last stop on our road trip before returning to Las Vegas where we stayed for 2 nights at The Bellagio hotel which was very swish. Thankfully it was lovely and hot and we spent most of the time sunbathing and swimming in the pool. As we left on the Friday the temperature was 35'C with the forecast rising to 41'C by Sunday............too hot even for me.

This was the view of Paris Hotel from our room

and illuminated by night

We had good views of the dancing fountains but they were better photographed at ground level.

Three weeks in America was certainly a holiday of a lifetime and we'll remember it for many years to come, but it was also lovely to be back home on the boat.

I hope you've enjoyed my holiday snaps. The normal boating blog will be back as soon as I've got something to share.

Bye for now