Journeys›Photograph

Zoo Day in San Francisco with Giraffes and Carousel

·San Francisco, California·#bay area#family#autumn#zoo#carousel
A young child with blonde and brown hair looks down, with two giraffes behind a fence.

Zoo day in San Francisco. The zoo sits way out on the city's west side, a hundred acres almost at the Pacific, and the sky stayed clear the whole time we were there — unusual luck for that corner of town.

The African Savanna was the main event. Two giraffes were working the middle of the enclosure near one of the dead trees, necks crossing when they both went for the same branch. I carried her along the fence line for a while, and she kept pushing her hair out of her eyes to keep them in view. Palm trees behind the yard, cypress behind those.

Then the carousel in the children's zoo, a 1921 Dentzel that got restored and landed here in 1998. First ride was a horse with a carved brown mane, both her hands wrapped around the gold pole. One ride was not enough, so the second went to some kind of cat, with her mom standing alongside and pointing things out as the room slid past.

A child with light brown hair smiles in the foreground, with two giraffes and a fence in the background.A child held by a person shields their eyes while looking at two giraffes and tall palm trees.A child held by an adult looks at two giraffes in a grassy enclosure with palm trees under a blue sky.A smiling child in a grey floral cardigan holds a golden pole on a carousel with a brown horse.A smiling child in a floral grey sweater on a carousel holds a golden pole near a horse.People ride a moving, brightly lit carousel with ornate animals, with large windows in the background.A woman and a child ride a multi-animal carousel with many lights, surrounded by large windows overlooking greenery.A woman points at a child on a carousel featuring several carved animal figures.

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