We don’t mind wandering around a zoo for a bit of exercise – certainly the Wellington Zoo offered that being so hilly! Plus we got to see the lovely orange pandas

So we headed way out West to the ocean to the San Francisco Zoo. I think the zoo is quite old, it wasn’t looking run down but perhaps a little bit tired and some of the enclosures could’ve been bigger. Also, I think it was a bad time of day/year to visit too – a lot of animals seemed to be asleep or hibernating – I really wanted to see the snow leopard, but no sign of him, and tigers were hard to spot too.

However there were plenty of characters to watch for a while.

A rhino enjoying the hose, although sad he had no horn

A hippo pooping and shouting in the pool (although mostly funny listening to the little kids shouting “eeeuuuwwwww mom loooook, he’s doing a poop.” Followed not to long after by “eeeeeuuuuuuwwwww don’t look eeeuuwwwww he’s eating it!” (Which he was. Gross.)

Penguins peek-a-booing

Grizzly bears biting/kissing each other and playing with a swimming ring (first time I’ve seen these bears for real)

Caught this teddy on video

Flamingos that looked quite orange! Not sure I’ve ever seen these for real either and they were out in the open with just a low fence so I probably could’ve touched one!

Yesterday I was having a grumpy day so it was rather ironic that The Mister took me to a new place for coffee – Trouble Coffee Company! We had to travel out West to Outer Sunset – a long way to go for a coffee but you know us … actually, we’d already decided on a trip to the zoo over Easter so we stopped for coffee on the way.

Usually we go out West on the bus but this time it was the Muni that took us to the same block the coffee shop was in. Actually a lot quicker than the bus! The coffee shop was in a little strip of shops out in the suburbs, with crammed standing room only inside (typically means the coffee is good!) and a few logs and park benches outside (oh, and a merry-go-round horse hanging from the ceiling inside!)

We ordered our 2 cappuccinos and got into a bit of friendly banter with the tattooed register girl about what we call a cappuccino in New Zealand, and what a flat white is. We’d read reviews about the amazing toast they have there too, that you couldn’t leave without trying it, especially the cinnamon toast. We couldn’t see it advertised anywhere and no menus. So we just settled for coffee. However, when we stepped to the back of the crowd to wait for our coffee and let others order, I spied some super-thick slices of bread on a little work bench through the glass in front of the counter, and someone after us ordered toast. So The Mister went back up and ordered some. Had to be sharp though, every now and then the register girl would scream TOAST and you had to be quick, apparently toast line jumping is very much alive there and sometimes causes arguments!

We took our toast and coffee outside and perched at a log on the side of the road. God the toast was good! White toast a good inch thick, doused in butter and cinnamon – you could feel the heart racing. The coffee was excellent as well. I was a bit worried at first because it was all white and marshmallowy on top but once you got rid of that and mixed it in a bit, the coffee was great.

So a bit out in the middle of nowhere with a strange homeless or traveling couple shouting about some ropes and climbing gear they had for sale but lots of hipster regulars hanging around on the sidewalk – very cool.

Trouble Coffee Company, 4033 Judah St (between 45th Ave & 46th Ave), San Francisco

P.S. I wasn’t grumpy by the time we finished our coffee, getting me out of the house for a coffee is usually enough to distract from work stresses, tax stresses, housework, visitors, sore neck etc etc!

Found this cool site/tool on an ex-colleagues blog – Montage Maker – go there and type in a topic, orange, coffee, seaside … and it scours the internet for images that match the description. Obviously I typed in orange. Result is cool!