Spring Break Vacation - San Diego Day 3

The third day of our trip was broken into three parts:  Sea World, Cabrillo National Monument (Park), and Mission Bay beach.
We headed back to Sea World Tuesday morning to see the things we didn't get to see and spend more time doing the things we enjoyed.  Our first stop was the Manta roller coaster.  Grant went on this roller coaster several times the day before and he had to go on it again.  Then it was back to the Bat Ray's.  Next, Dolphin Point.  The dolphins were playing in a large pool.  They had various toys to play with.  I took about 100 pictures in an attempt to get some great shots.

 This dolphin would throw the football into the crowd at one corner of the pool.  The people would throw it back.  This went on a dozen or more times.  The problem was that the dolphin only threw it to that one spot, never to us :(

 We were close enough to the dolphins that we could reach out and touch them.

 This dolphin is soooooo CUTE!

Brent and Grant are begging the dolphin to throw them the football, no luck.

 After spending an hour playing with the dolphins, we went to check out the killer whales.  One of the killer whales had a baby on February 14th, 2013.  You can see the baby whale swimming by her mom.

 This is a shot of the mom, the baby, and the VERY large older brother.

It was great sitting on the ground watching the whales swim by.  They are so majestic, graceful, and intimidating.  

Next we visited the otters and another aquarium then left the park.  We went out to lunch and then out to Cabrillo National Monument which is on a peninsula across from Coronado island.  The Cabrillo National Park had tide pools along the cliffs where various sea life get trapped during low tide.  Despite the endless wind, we had a great time exploring.

 Grant found some very small anemones.  When you put your finger on them, they would close up.  It feels like they are sucking your finger in.

 There were lots of shells attached to the cliffs and in the pools.  Grant was able to remove one.  Underneath the hard shell was this soft orange muscle. 

 If you look at the bottom of the muscle, you will see it's mouth open.

 One of the many rounded out tide pool areas.

Grant climbed inside one of the caves.  There are sea creatures and shells all over the walls.

It was very refreshing to just sit on the rocks and listen to the waves crash against the shore.  

We played along the shoreline for a few hours.  Then we headed up to Cabrillo National Monument's visitor center.  While we were there, we took a walk to an old light house.

 Grant was striking a pose with a creepy smile.

 Still windy.

 The old light house.

 Grant is sitting at the bottom of the narrow winding staircase.  I'm at the top looking down at him.

We had a wonderful views of the ocean from every part of our scenic walk.

Exhausted from all of the walking, climbing and time in the sun, we headed to our hotel room to take a much needed break.  Being out in the sun for two days straight, is really draining.  

Since this was our last night in San Diego, we made one more evening trip to the beach.

 Grant played in the kelp again.  He is pulling on a long vine that is attached to two separate piles of kelp.

 Grant chased the waves and the birds.

The longer we stayed after the sun had set, the more fog rolled in.  It was so thick we couldn't see the parking lot.  All we could see was the faint glow of street lights.  Grant thought it was amazing that the fog was so thick.  He decided to run down the beach so we couldn't find him.  It wasn't very long when we couldn't see him anymore.  I had know idea how disorienting and deceptive fog could be.

Our family vacation was filled with so many things to experience.  I'm so glad that we came to San Diego.  Despite all of the great things we saw and did, we did have some challenges.  Navigating the streets of San Diego was challenging.  The streets change their names depending on which direction you are traveling.  They also run in any and all directions, no pattern :(  Another challenge was finding a place to eat at that we could park near.  Parking is a premium there.  Some little restaurants had two parking spaces in front of them!  Even with these minor frustrations, I would do it again!  

Spring Break Vacation = San Diego Day 2

Sea World is open from 10am until 6pm.  We planned on being there for every minute of it.  I wasn't sure how crazy the park would be since it was spring break.  Luckily for us, it wasn't busy at all.  We went on roller coaster riders, over and over, without having to wait in line.  We were able to get great seats at all of the shows we wanted to attend.  The only annoying line we gave up on, was the one for pizza around lunch time.
Sea World has more than just aquatic life.  It has an area called "Animal Connections."  This area has a few unique animals that one doesn't usually see when they are out and about:  porcupine, beaver, armadillo, poisonous dart frogs, llamas and miniature horses.  As we finished petting the beaver, we ran into a flock of flamingos going for a walk.

The flamingo flock was used to being around people and would walk right up to us.  

Although the directions from the flamingo keeper was to not touch the flamingos, Grant just couldn't resist the temptation.  He says the flamingos are super soft.

Next we went to our first roller coaster ride, "Journey to Atlantis." 

 I was plenty wet after riding the ride once, I didn't need to go on it again.  Grant, on the other hand, ran back to the ride boarding zone and went again.

Grant is in the orange shirt with his hands in the air.

 Getting soaked!

On his way by...

After air drying for a few minutes, we headed over to our next ride/exhibit, "Wild Arctic."  On this ride (it's more of a glorified entrance to the exhibit) people board a helicopter and fly to the arctic base station.  When we exit from the bumpy helicopter ride, we were able to see a polar bear and a HUGE walrus.  

When the polar bear wasn't swimming, she paced back & forth along the "tree trunk." 

 The walrus has a hairy face and long tusks.

This walrus has to weigh over 1,000 pounds.  It would be scary to run into this big walrus in nature.  

On our way to our first show, we stopped to check out the sea lions.  They made lots of noise as people fed them.

 The Clyde & Seamore Show was very entertaining.  The sea lions were very talented.  They swam, balanced a ball on their noses, danced, and did lots of cute tricks.  

Our next stop was to see the bat rays.  Grant loved to touch these large slimy creatures.  They are so graceful as they swam in the pool.  They even take fish out of your fingers.  They kind of suck them in. 

The next show we saw was called "Pets Rule."  This show featured rescued cats, dogs, pigs, emus and other animals.  The biggest surprise for me was seeing cats do tricks on command.  Cats don't do anything on command!  They are the most fickle creatures on the planet.  The show was very cute.  Grant was ready to run on stage to give all of the dogs belly rubs.

Our next stop was to the Blue Horizons Stadium to see the dolphin show.  We arrived right before the show started.  Grant found a seat in the front row.  Brent & I were several rows up from him.

 Grant was in the "Soak Zone."  

He was DRENCHED after the show (and not very happy about it).

 The show was incredible!

The dolphins are waving good-bye.

After we spent some time drying off, grabbing a bite to eat and viewing the park from the Skytower Ride, we headed over to the penguin exhibit.  Aunt Brenda loves penguins.  I thought of her the entire time we checked out these beautiful birds.

Grant looks a little creepy hugging this stuffed bird.

There is just so much to see at Sea World.  The next exhibit we went to was at Turtle Reef.

Grant & I were so loud on the Riptide Rescue ride.  We yelled for Brent almost the entire time.  Brent did a good job of ignoring us.  We thought we were pretty funny!

Next stop, shark encounter...

It was hard to get good pictures of these sharp toothed creatures.

 It was very scary to be near so many SHARKS!

Watch out!

Our adventure continued with the Shamu show at 5pm.  Grant refused to sit with us because we were in the "soak zone."  We were at the top of the section and weren't worried about getting wet.  The people at the front of our section were soaked!

 Look closely, he is sticking his tongue out!

 There were lots of incredible jumps and flips.

It was an incredible show.

Since the park didn't close for another 30 minutes, that gave us time to visit the tide pools and play with star fish and anemones.

  (The canopy covering the exhibit reflected in the water which made for lousy pictures.)

 Time was up.  It was time to leave Sea World, find a place for dinner, buy sunblock & a hat for Brent, and sleep.  It was a long but INCREDIBLE day!