Sunday, Apr.13: The Wild Side of San Diego

Travel journals and photography by FNN Collegiate and Tech Prep reporters Katherine Hunter, Rhonea Long, Katrina Smith, Noel Spencer, Stephanie Spencer and Jonay Veney.

The San Diego Zoo Today we visited the San Diego Zoo. Once we arrived, I was immediately attracted to the Skyfari. The Skyfari is a cabled operated cart that seats four people or less and it runs across one end of the zoo to the other on cabled line—much like a two way zip line. The San Diego Zoo lived-up to the hype and impressed me. People were able to feed giraffes, watch 4-D movies about many of the exhibits and touch fossils. As we peered through the observation glass, we watched the polar bears do tricks. The animals were very interactive. The giraffes stretched their necks and licked people, and the cheetahs ran around with their best friend, Henry, the dog. Overall, the San Diego Zoo was a wonderful experience and I would love to visit the zoo again!

- Noel Spencer

Today we went to the zoo! We saw a rhinoceros, exotic birds and other animals. We also went on the ziplines. (The pictures are unavailable because they were taken on a disposable camera.) Rhonea Long, a reporter of the news team, had a caricature done of herself. Two other reporters, Stephanie Spencer and Jonay Veney had their faces painted. The zoo was very big and had many exhibits! Walking through there was like walking through another world. There was about six levels of the zoo and there was even a few loose animals. (I took pictures of them, but now they are intangible.) The loose animals were ducks and even a peacock! Then we went to a little restaurant inside the zoo and ate a cheeseburger and fries which was funny because it seemed we’ve been eating that ever since we arrived in San Diego. But anyway, we left early because we felt a little tired. Not me, but some of the others. I was the restless one, eager to see all parts of San Diego.

- Katherine Hunter

Sunday our group went to the zoo. I did not like the zoo because it was a lot like the one in D.C. Later on we all went to the Cheesecake Factory. That was fun because it was my first time there and it was a nice place.

-Katrina Smith

Sunday Dumbday :( On Sunday we went to the San Diego Zoo I didn’t have a good time except for when we rode on the Aerial Tram. However, I did get a lot of good pictures. I bought 2 batteries for $10 and then my camera ran out of memory! How mad was I? Mad as a mug. But I continued to take pictures on my phone. The plan was to leave the zoo around 5 but when we met for lunch everybody agreed to leave a little early. After we ate, we left. When we got to the hotel, I went straight to the room and took a nap. I think the jet lag really kicked in. Before we went to sleep Mrs. Johnson told us that they had a surprise for us. But what was it? Dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. It was pretty good. I had never eaten there before. We left and went back to the hotel. Everybody wanted to go to the pool so we decided that that would be our late night move.

-Rhonea Long

Today on 4/13/14 we had breakfast at our hotel and Jonay, Noel and I had breakfast at the table together. We were conversing with each other and talking about how our day was going to go. After our breakfast we took a ride to the zoo. It was nice leaving our hotel and seeing other parts of San Diego. The zoo wasn't a far ride from the hotel. Once we arrived at the zoo we took pictures in front of the San Diego Zoo sign. We also took pictures for other people with their families. Everyone we spoke with at the zoo were very nice. Once we entered the zoo we saw a bunch of birds flying around and all the workers were friendly. They were telling us about the zoo and what to expect. We saw many animals. Around 1:30 p.m. we had lunch and we walked around the zoo some more and then we left. Later on that day, we were surprised with dinner at The Cheesecake Factory. The food was very good and I was surprised with a chocolate cake. The employees sang happy birthday to me, which was really nice.

- Stephanie Spencer

Today is April 13th 2014. Today was the last day of the convention. I visited 2 more workshops and later on that day we went to a dance for the high school kids that was a part of the convention. It was a lot of fun. I met a lot of new people and had a really good time.

- Jonay Veney