Stay Classy San Diego

Our first day back in San Diego was spent at Sea World.  Big Sister was able to get discounted tickets for us all through work.  We started the day with the obligatory killer whale show.  There were actually four Shamu’s in the performance. They did a bunch of flips and such, splashing people in the foremost sections.

The killer whale show was like watching Circus De Soleil with NFL linebackers—huge but surprisingly agile.

We caught the dolphin show afterwards.  At least I think they were dolphins because they just looked like minnows all the way up in the nosebleed section where we were stuck sitting.  I thought this show was more interesting because there is more of a human element, with acrobats and divers involved.  Sadly, when one of the guys rode on the backs of two dolphins, this prompted The Boy to give a long discourse on the dolphin-riding zombie on his Plants vs Zombies game.

We ate lunch at the barbecue joint inside the park.  The food wasn't bad considering it was served cafeteria style under heat lamps.  We treated the kids to a stuffed animal souvenir.  They had a “Build-A-Bear” style shop where you could pick a marine animal and dress him up.  The Girl (not The Boy, thankfully) picked the princess outfit for her dolphin.  My nephews decided to get two giant, oversized stuffed animals.  Brother-In-Law was stuck lugging them around for the rest of the day.  We visited a couple of other areas such as the penguins and the polar animals, but the kids enjoyed the Sesame Street play area much more.  They got to climb obstacle courses and push each other around in a large area full of big punching bags.   By mid afternoon, we were exhausted from dragging around our large caravan of infants and small children.  On the way out, The Girl was enthralled by some of their animal ambassadors—a cockatoo and a baby kangaroo.  I would have expected some type of marine animal considering it is SEA world.

The Boy struggles up the net ladder.

The Boy walks inside a mesh tunnel.

The boys tired out quickly in the punching bag room.

In which of the seven seas are kangaroo’s commonly found?

After letting the kids play one last time with their cousins, we parted ways with Big Sister as her family headed back home.

The kids played around near the mock ship used for Coast Guard training

There was some collateral damage.

The indoor bathroom was only a 1-2 minute walk away.

We wanted to take it easy on our last day of vacation so we headed to Balboa Park.  It’s a great area next to the San Diego Zoo filled with all kinds of museums with varying themes.  We purchased a pass that would get us into five of them.  We started at the Air and Space Museum which was filled with a surprisingly large collection of vintage aircraft.  The nerd in me could have spent half the day looking at all their displays.  However, my paternal instincts compelled me to keep moving as the kids could not have cared any less.  Are they interested in the full-sized replicas of the Apollo landing craft or the planes that Charles Lindbergh, Amelia Earhart, or the Red Baron flew?  No, the highlight for them was the freeze-dried space ice cream from the gift shop.

The Spirit of St. Louis replica

Fokker Dr. 1 triplane

P-51 Thunderbolt

Submarine Spitfire

Catalina airboat

Bell Huey gunship

Not Top Gun

This car looked familiar sometime back in the future.

The Girl flips switches in a helicopter cockpit.

Eject!

Man on the moon

Ground control to Major Tom...WTF is on your head!

We then proceeded to the science museum next.  There was an IMAX show included in the passes.  We saw the “Born to Be Wild” flick about these women who raised orphaned orangutans and elephants.  It was pretty slow, and The Girl fell asleep.  The kids weren't too interested in most of the museum exhibits.  However, there was one room filled with computers that was pretty intriguing.  One terminal took a picture of your face and calculated what you would look like at age 60 if you smoked or not.  Neither was a future worth looking forward to for me.  However, if I smoked, at least I would have an excuse.  But, my favorite computer there calculates what you would look like if you were of a different ethnicity or gender.  I’m no Beyoncé.

The Boy as an African-American female

Our last stop was the museum of natural history.  There are some interesting statues and fossils of dinosaurs and extinct mammals.  The kids were more interested in riding them instead of learning about them.  We caught the 3-D flick “Ultimate Wave” about guys surfing in Tahiti.  It was impressively shot by multiple divers holding up large professional cameras (not merely GoPro's) as they battled monster waves.  At many times it almost seemed like the surfers were going to run over these camera men.  Technical issues aside, the story just wasn't that interesting.  More nap time for The Girl and The Wife.  We were batting a nice 0 for 2 on the movies.

The Kids' ages corresponded to a less than a centimeter of the tree's width.

The rebuilt dinosaur fossils were fleshed out on one side.

The sign said "Do Not Ride."  Too bad The Girl can't read.

The impressive-sized Megalodon

By the time we finished these three museums, it was already starting to get late.  Many of the museums were starting to close, so we never got to use the two remaining passes that we had already paid for.  I was hoping to see the automotive museum with their collection of classic cars.  Oh well, maybe next time.

Later that night, we ate at the Fish Market restaurant located in the shadow of the U.S.S. Midway.  The place was packed and we ended up using a valet after having driven around for 15 minutes looking for a parking spot.  The food and service were good, but it was so crowded, and the waiting time was long.  I doubt I would go there if I was a local.

We want food!

We flew back home early the next morning.  We had to listen to our kids whine and cry that they didn't want to leave San Diego.  I guess that’s a sign of a good family vacation.