Sea World

        Backtracking - do blogs have to go in chronological order??

 6/14/2011 - Flag Day

         Staying at a Best Western off of Clairmont and the 5...one mile from Sea World...I get up at 6 to run Bella...no beach, but neat neighborhood of cottages, well kept, nice elementary school, "Bayview"...I stop running long enough to look around, see the bay at the bottom of the steep hill, nod and say 'yep, there is a bayview' and keep running...the temperature in the 60's, sea in the air - it's great running weather...
                I wake the bambini for breakfast and tell them we are going to Sea World.  There is much rejoicing.  Out of all of the theme parks and attractions in California, Sea World was Kim's favorite.  We never even made it to Lego Land, because, given the choices, Kim would always come back to Sea World.  She loved the dolphin show - and would always make sure that we saw all of the shows available, memorizing the time schedules and organizing our route through the park to coincide with the shows.  I didn't do so well with that.  We were all over the place.  Literally going from one end of the park to the other only to discover the attraction or show we wanted to see was back on the side we just had come from.  We put on a lot of miles, but had fun.
         We got to the park about 1/2 hour prior to it opening to be able to get Bella into her 'accomodations'.  Sea World has a kennel on site for pets!  Bella was not too sure of the cell, er, dog run that she was assigned - all cinder block and concrete floor...prison!  There were a couple dogs already there, barking their heads off.  I told Bella not to talk to them.  We were able to come out and walk Bella twice during the day - and each time, the lady told us Bella was the best behaved and she didn't bark...good girl.
           They were handing out mini - U.S.A. flags as you entered the park and had us wave them during the Shamu show.  Very nice.

                                                                We did not kill Shamu...

                                                       Penguins!!  The bambini enjoyed this exhibit - but, boy, did those birds smell!!

                                                       Front row...splash zone for Shamu! 

                                          Tonio is pretty wet after the show, proudly wearing the Alaska t-shirt that Angie and Mark brought him back from the cruise that they took there.  Yeh, and I bought him the typical souvenior stuff, too.

                                 Turtle Reef is a newer exhibit at Sea World - this exhibit was my favorite today...the turtle were so peaceful to watch...

                                                    Cody and Tonio enjoy the 'Riptide'. 

                                       Autumn thought the street sign was cool...

                                       The dolphins were awesome....

                                      And Atlantis...Tonio's first real roller coaster ride!  He was immediately hooked.  There was absolutely no crowd, so we went on three times in a row without waiting, until Autumn told us she was going to get sick...we came back later for a 4th ride...and ran into the Peru family, also out here on vacation from Tucson - small world!
                                     Before I forget, like I said, Kim liked to see all of the shows...I did not.  There is one featuring pets - cats, dogs, etc.  Pets.  At 'Sea' World.  I never got that.  And, I could never work up the desire to see the show, although, of course, for Kimmy, I'd 'suffer' through it.  We laughed about Kim always wanting to see the pet show today...and steered clear of it!  The bambini suspected that Sea World had taken Bella from her kennel to be in the show today. 
                                    We stayed until the park closed, stocked up on more souvenirs at the exit and ran to release Bella, who was very happy....until we dumped her back at the hotel and headed to Old Town to get some dinner!
                                Old Town is another part of San Diego that we made a point to visit each time we got out there.  They have some of the coolest and best Mexican restaurants there.  We got down there around 9:00 p.m. and the place was packed.  We chose a place called Fred's to eat - the carne asada was fantastic!
                               One time, Kim somehow found a little bungalow for rent at the top of Old Town.  It was so fun, coming home from the beach and walking into Old Town to hang out for the evening.  She sure could find the spots.  Rockin' Baja Lobster was one restaurant we used to enjoy going to - not so much for great food, but atmosphere - we had a lot of fun there.  And the Mexican restaurant where they have someone making the tortillas right out front was always amazing!  I forget the name of it - we tried to get in there tonight, but it was so crowded.
                              We closed Fred's and got back to the hotel near midnight...tired, but having covered a lot of ground that we had enjoyed with Kim...and had a lot of fun together today...
                         Love,
                                 Dave