san francisco zoo

Zebras were my favorite animal when I was little. Something about them made me love them, maybe it was because they were both black and white, and already at the age of three or four I had an understanding of ethnicity and what it meant being black. The thought that here is an animal that is both resonated with me. But this is not a post about that. This is a post about the zoo.

My mom was, and still is, an avid reader and there was a book store, Lucy’s Book Store, where she bought used books. It used to be in a trailer before they moved to a brick and mortar location. I remember going there regularly with my mom, I got to pick out books too. It was the beginning of my love for reading.

I have a distinct memory of being in that trailer and seeing a book in a spinning rack. The book was shaped like an animal, and the entire cover was a zebra! That was the book I brought home that day. And when I got home, I remember the let down of opening up the book and not seeing a zebra on every page. The book was about the zoo. In fact, the title was ‘Zoo’, but of course at that time I wasn’t reading and did not comprehend that. All that I understood was that the book was not about zebras.

All that is to say, I appreciate zoos despite being let down by the book about the zoo as a child. A couple of months ago, I went with a friend to the San Francisco Zoo. It was her first time going to any zoo, and she wore a zebra sweater. This set of photos is from our adventure. With my obsession with flowers, there will be a separate post that includes my photos of thee fauna.