San Diego Diary!
Aug. 5th, 2005 12:15 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
agilebritWe're back!
San Diego Diary
July 28, 2005
Hit the road about 10:30am, went to the bank and the gas station, got out of SLC around 11. Drive uneventful and not too bad. Hit Vegas about 4 local time and found the motel (Lake Mead Motel in Henderson), checked in, and figured out that eating at Mandalay Bay was going to be way too expensive per the prices in the nice little Vegas magazine supplied by the motel. Scrapped that idea and ate at the Excalibur buffet instead, which was excellent. Stayed for the juggling act (she was GREAT, and Justin was enthralled; never seen anyone juggle scarves before), wandered about the shops, then walked over to Mandalay Bay and poked through there. Decided that visiting the Shark Reef at $16 a pop (though free for Da Boy) was silly, as we're going to Sea World in a couple of days, and took the free tram back to Excalibur, where we were parked. Drove back to the motel and discovered that, even with 30 channels, there's still nothing on TV. Also, no wifi hotspot. Woe.
July 29, 2005
Argh, argh, ARGH. Got a nice early start...and realized over a hundred miles later that we'd left my $80 pillow in the hotel room. So, had to turn around and go back for it, adding about three hours to our trip. At least, it would have added ONLY three hours if traffic outside Escondido had cooperated. Which it didn't. Apparently a wreck that had been cleared hours (yes, you read that right) beforehand was still causing traffic to be backed up for miles. Oh, it sucked like the giant sucking thing in "Spaceballs."
Stopped at Oggi's and had some VERY yummy pizza and fried zucchini. Found the hotel and attempted to crash for the night, but the upstairs people were apparently randomly jumping off their beds onto the floor. And screaming a lot. Until 4am. Wankers. We got even with them the next morning when we got up at 7am though.
July 30, 2005
Dude, the Wild Animal Park rocks like the big rocking thing in "Galaxy Quest." It's big and roomy and the train is included with admission. The lorikeets were really neat to feed, and Da Boy got to feed a leaf to a giraffe, which he thought was pretty cool. He's learning to pose for me. Birds still freak him out a bit, but he did much better in Lorikeet Landing than he's done before, so progress. Shot four rolls of film; need to buy more. Man, they've got babies all over the place. Ate at Chili's because we were in a prosaic mood, then came back and went swimming. The pool is warm! And the hot tub is nice as well.
July 31, 2005
So, we did the Automotive Museum, the Puppet Theater, the Model Railroad Museum, and the Aerospace Museum today. The museums were really cool, especially the Model RR Museum, but the Puppet Theater was kind of lame. Justin liked it, though, and that was kind of the point, so, okay. We hit Mission Beach after an unsuccessful attempt at finding a movie theater playing "March of the Penguins." Ate at a "Souper/Salad" type place, and it was really good too. And yes, it is possible to waddle out of a place like that. Also (in white type for icky girly stuff), my STUPID period started. Did I have supplies? No, I did not, because the damb thing was about a week early. Therefore we had to find a grocery store in an unfamiliar town. *deadpan* Whee. And what happened to the nice little travel packs of ten they used to sell? The store didn't have any. *grumbles*
Aug. 1, 2005
Sea World! After having to turn around and get the tickets I forgot, we made it there with no further trouble. And since it was overcast, we decided to forego the sunscreen...which was a mistake. Ah well. I don't think any of us got TOO toasted. Thank TPTB for the extended summer hours, otherwise you'd never see it all in one day. It's changed quite a bit from the last time we were there, what, fifteen years ago? They've got a couple of new, wet rides that were a blast--Justin got to ride his first ever roller coaster and said he liked it. I'm not sure. LOL Got to see all sorts of critters, from Beluga Whales to Orcas to Commerson's Porpoises, Bottlenose Dolphins, Pilot Whales. Got to feed and pet stingrays and dolphins and hold starfish, which was pretty neat.
The animals in the Sea Lion show decided that they were going to do their own thing, which was funny. They wound up using about five different sea lions because the originals were off just having fun instead of working. And they had a "domestic pet" show with dogs and cats and pigs. The kitties were especially impressive, running all over and doing cat things, climbing up poles and ropes, walking tightropes, and one dove from a good twenty feet down onto the shoulders of his handler. And a pig...did weave poles. They also had a sort of Cirque de Soleil thing called "Cirque de la Mer" that was way cool.
And Justin got a new plush polar bear, which is getting along famously with his old one, I guess.
Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2005
San Diego Zoo today. Got there right around opening time, on schedule. Shot the reptiles first...and then discovered that my flash was set wrong, so the pix will probably come out woefully underexposed. Which is why I have PSP. Later, my camera decided that it wouldn't count the frames anymore, so I was just shooting until it wouldn't shoot anymore and then reloading film. Got several nice shots of the pandas, koalas, and mongooses, among the five or six rolls I shot. And I got to pet the echidna!!! *flails* He was sleeping the entire time we were at the zoo, but a couple of guys who are apparently there all the time said that's all he does, and the enclosure is set up so that you actually CAN touch him, so, Yay! Ate an overpriced meal at the zoo, wandered a bit more, and headed out...
...to Seaport Village. Stopped at the USS Midway, which was closed, and which we've determined that we're going to go see tomorrow. Seaport Village has all kinds of neato shops, but alas, no one had any anteaters. One of them had some cheap and adorable cartoony fish that will go perfectly in the bathroom, though. We checked out the yachts in the harbor and came back to the hotel. Dude, my feet hurt.
Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005
Since we weren't in any real hurry to get out of San Diego, we decided to hit the USS Midway Museum in the harbor, and it was SO COOL. It's this huge aircraft carrier, but the living quarters are cramped beyond belief. And they had planes on it, and there's this self-guided tour you take with an MP3 player that tells you about all the different parts of the ship. Neato.
After that, we headed up to Vegas, where traffic, predictably, was awful. But I got to show the Hubby all the landmarks and stuff on the Strip that we did during WriterCon. Finally got checked into Circus Circus about 7pm and went to Landry's to eat. Which was totally YUM. And, ouch, expensive. But so worth it.
After that we hit the midway in the Circus Dome and watched the circus acts and wandered around playing games and winning stuffed animals. Justin even threw a dart and won a little mouse in a raincoat, and I managed to pop enough chickens into pots to win a VERY cool lizard. The circus acts were most excellent, mostly acrobats and contortionists--and they all had Eastern European names. The cynical part of me said, yeah, right, they're probably from Poughkeepsie and Ohio, really...but who cares? They were entertaining.
Thursday, Aug. 4, 2005
Got checked out around 10am and headed over to the Sahara to look at the NASCAR stuff. They've got a virtual track, and the Hubby won his race against about five or six other drivers--only wrecked six times. They must have wrecked more. Then we ate the Best Hamburgers Ever (OMH, they were SO good) at the NASCAR Café and headed for home.
And here we are. The trip was a curious mixture of disastrous and wonderful. The pillow definitely helped, I think, because this is the first trip I've ever been on where I didn't wake up with a backache every morning. But, man, I will never complain about traffic in Salt Lake City ever again.
San Diego Diary
July 28, 2005
Hit the road about 10:30am, went to the bank and the gas station, got out of SLC around 11. Drive uneventful and not too bad. Hit Vegas about 4 local time and found the motel (Lake Mead Motel in Henderson), checked in, and figured out that eating at Mandalay Bay was going to be way too expensive per the prices in the nice little Vegas magazine supplied by the motel. Scrapped that idea and ate at the Excalibur buffet instead, which was excellent. Stayed for the juggling act (she was GREAT, and Justin was enthralled; never seen anyone juggle scarves before), wandered about the shops, then walked over to Mandalay Bay and poked through there. Decided that visiting the Shark Reef at $16 a pop (though free for Da Boy) was silly, as we're going to Sea World in a couple of days, and took the free tram back to Excalibur, where we were parked. Drove back to the motel and discovered that, even with 30 channels, there's still nothing on TV. Also, no wifi hotspot. Woe.
July 29, 2005
Argh, argh, ARGH. Got a nice early start...and realized over a hundred miles later that we'd left my $80 pillow in the hotel room. So, had to turn around and go back for it, adding about three hours to our trip. At least, it would have added ONLY three hours if traffic outside Escondido had cooperated. Which it didn't. Apparently a wreck that had been cleared hours (yes, you read that right) beforehand was still causing traffic to be backed up for miles. Oh, it sucked like the giant sucking thing in "Spaceballs."
Stopped at Oggi's and had some VERY yummy pizza and fried zucchini. Found the hotel and attempted to crash for the night, but the upstairs people were apparently randomly jumping off their beds onto the floor. And screaming a lot. Until 4am. Wankers. We got even with them the next morning when we got up at 7am though.
July 30, 2005
Dude, the Wild Animal Park rocks like the big rocking thing in "Galaxy Quest." It's big and roomy and the train is included with admission. The lorikeets were really neat to feed, and Da Boy got to feed a leaf to a giraffe, which he thought was pretty cool. He's learning to pose for me. Birds still freak him out a bit, but he did much better in Lorikeet Landing than he's done before, so progress. Shot four rolls of film; need to buy more. Man, they've got babies all over the place. Ate at Chili's because we were in a prosaic mood, then came back and went swimming. The pool is warm! And the hot tub is nice as well.
July 31, 2005
So, we did the Automotive Museum, the Puppet Theater, the Model Railroad Museum, and the Aerospace Museum today. The museums were really cool, especially the Model RR Museum, but the Puppet Theater was kind of lame. Justin liked it, though, and that was kind of the point, so, okay. We hit Mission Beach after an unsuccessful attempt at finding a movie theater playing "March of the Penguins." Ate at a "Souper/Salad" type place, and it was really good too. And yes, it is possible to waddle out of a place like that. Also (in white type for icky girly stuff), my STUPID period started. Did I have supplies? No, I did not, because the damb thing was about a week early. Therefore we had to find a grocery store in an unfamiliar town. *deadpan* Whee. And what happened to the nice little travel packs of ten they used to sell? The store didn't have any. *grumbles*
Aug. 1, 2005
Sea World! After having to turn around and get the tickets I forgot, we made it there with no further trouble. And since it was overcast, we decided to forego the sunscreen...which was a mistake. Ah well. I don't think any of us got TOO toasted. Thank TPTB for the extended summer hours, otherwise you'd never see it all in one day. It's changed quite a bit from the last time we were there, what, fifteen years ago? They've got a couple of new, wet rides that were a blast--Justin got to ride his first ever roller coaster and said he liked it. I'm not sure. LOL Got to see all sorts of critters, from Beluga Whales to Orcas to Commerson's Porpoises, Bottlenose Dolphins, Pilot Whales. Got to feed and pet stingrays and dolphins and hold starfish, which was pretty neat.
The animals in the Sea Lion show decided that they were going to do their own thing, which was funny. They wound up using about five different sea lions because the originals were off just having fun instead of working. And they had a "domestic pet" show with dogs and cats and pigs. The kitties were especially impressive, running all over and doing cat things, climbing up poles and ropes, walking tightropes, and one dove from a good twenty feet down onto the shoulders of his handler. And a pig...did weave poles. They also had a sort of Cirque de Soleil thing called "Cirque de la Mer" that was way cool.
And Justin got a new plush polar bear, which is getting along famously with his old one, I guess.
Tuesday, Aug. 2, 2005
San Diego Zoo today. Got there right around opening time, on schedule. Shot the reptiles first...and then discovered that my flash was set wrong, so the pix will probably come out woefully underexposed. Which is why I have PSP. Later, my camera decided that it wouldn't count the frames anymore, so I was just shooting until it wouldn't shoot anymore and then reloading film. Got several nice shots of the pandas, koalas, and mongooses, among the five or six rolls I shot. And I got to pet the echidna!!! *flails* He was sleeping the entire time we were at the zoo, but a couple of guys who are apparently there all the time said that's all he does, and the enclosure is set up so that you actually CAN touch him, so, Yay! Ate an overpriced meal at the zoo, wandered a bit more, and headed out...
...to Seaport Village. Stopped at the USS Midway, which was closed, and which we've determined that we're going to go see tomorrow. Seaport Village has all kinds of neato shops, but alas, no one had any anteaters. One of them had some cheap and adorable cartoony fish that will go perfectly in the bathroom, though. We checked out the yachts in the harbor and came back to the hotel. Dude, my feet hurt.
Wednesday, Aug. 3, 2005
Since we weren't in any real hurry to get out of San Diego, we decided to hit the USS Midway Museum in the harbor, and it was SO COOL. It's this huge aircraft carrier, but the living quarters are cramped beyond belief. And they had planes on it, and there's this self-guided tour you take with an MP3 player that tells you about all the different parts of the ship. Neato.
After that, we headed up to Vegas, where traffic, predictably, was awful. But I got to show the Hubby all the landmarks and stuff on the Strip that we did during WriterCon. Finally got checked into Circus Circus about 7pm and went to Landry's to eat. Which was totally YUM. And, ouch, expensive. But so worth it.
After that we hit the midway in the Circus Dome and watched the circus acts and wandered around playing games and winning stuffed animals. Justin even threw a dart and won a little mouse in a raincoat, and I managed to pop enough chickens into pots to win a VERY cool lizard. The circus acts were most excellent, mostly acrobats and contortionists--and they all had Eastern European names. The cynical part of me said, yeah, right, they're probably from Poughkeepsie and Ohio, really...but who cares? They were entertaining.
Thursday, Aug. 4, 2005
Got checked out around 10am and headed over to the Sahara to look at the NASCAR stuff. They've got a virtual track, and the Hubby won his race against about five or six other drivers--only wrecked six times. They must have wrecked more. Then we ate the Best Hamburgers Ever (OMH, they were SO good) at the NASCAR Café and headed for home.
And here we are. The trip was a curious mixture of disastrous and wonderful. The pillow definitely helped, I think, because this is the first trip I've ever been on where I didn't wake up with a backache every morning. But, man, I will never complain about traffic in Salt Lake City ever again.
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Date: 2005-08-05 08:12 pm (UTC)Welcome home!
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