Getting the flavor of...
The San Diego Zoo; A hidden gem in Dunedin
The San Diego Zoo
Exotic animals are stars on YouTube, but there’s nothing like seeing them live, said Christopher Reynolds in the Los Angeles Times. At the San Diego Zoo (sandiegozoo.org), you don’t need a mouse or monitor to “lock gazes with a viper” or “coo at an adorable giant panda.” When I visited recently, “one of the giraffes stared me down for so long I thought it might demand to see my ID.” Now in its 97th year, the nation’s second-most-visited zoo houses a whopping 3,700 animals and can proudly trumpet its role in bringing back such threatened species as pandas and California condors. I spent one morning transfixed by a panda mother of six who was breakfasting on bamboo stalks. Later, I got “slimed by rhino spittle,” fed a squadron of flamingos, and communed with my old favorites, the same Galápagos tortoises that have lived at the zoo since 1928. Beat that, Internet.
A hidden gem in Dunedin
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
If you’re looking for a throwback Florida experience, consider Dunedin, said Virginia Linn in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. A sleepy town of 37,000 on the Gulf Coast, Dunedin has plenty of quiet charms, including the waterfront Fish Market, which sells fresh catch until 10 each night, and a Donald Ross–designed golf course that was long the home course of the PGA championship. But Dunedin’s true gem exists just offshore. A 20-minute ferry ride through emerald blue waters gets you to Caladesi Island, home to “three miles of one of the most pristine beaches you’ll ever see.” Once crowned the best beach in America by coastal scientist Stephen Leatherman, aka “Dr. Beach,” this unadulterated, powdery white strip is completely unlike Florida’s cluttered mainland beaches. Stroll along beautiful Caladesi and instead of hot dog stands or “junky surf shops,” you’ll spy American oystercatchers, seagulls, and other wading birds. “This is the way Florida is supposed to be.”
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
7 recipes for every kind of fall cooking occasion
The Week Recommends Marinated feta; go-to chocolate cake; a fresh way with Brussels: Autumn is not going to know what hit it
By Scott Hocker, The Week US Published
-
Why is a government shutdown possible before the election?
Today's Big Question A fight over immigration, spending and the future of House Speaker Mike Johnson
By Joel Mathis, The Week US Published
-
DOJ charges 2 in white nationalist 'Terrorgram' plot
Feds say Dallas Humber and Matthew Allison were plotting assassinations through a terrorist network on Telegram
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published