Sunny Mid-June Day at San Francisco Zoo

The San Francisco Zoo sits way out at Sloat and the Great Highway, on the city's western edge, and it's been there since 1929 — which usually means fog, but not today. Clear blue sky the whole visit.

Started with the primates. The gibbons were high in a big tree, one draped over a branch like it had melted there, and another sitting upright in a fork with its mouth wide open, calling. You hear them before you find them. The squirrel monkeys were harder to make out through the mesh of their enclosure, moving along the ropes strung between branches, more shadow than monkey until one crossed a patch of sun.

The giraffe yard was the longest stop. Reticulated giraffes, a whole group of them milling around the rocks and the hay, and a young one in the mix — small enough that its horns are still tufts. It stood at the water's edge for a while, then went and nursed right there in the open, tucked under its mother with her tail swishing over its neck.

Dust everywhere in that yard. The little one kicked up its own cloud just walking.