Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Super Trip Part 3 -- San Diego Parks



After Lani picked us up from Mexico, we went straight to the San Diego zoo, thus kicking off five days in a row of fun at San Diego parks. The zoo was emptying out at 5 PM, and so we were able to spend 3 hours doing the sky ride, taking the bus tour, and enjoying a couple of things, knowing we would be back. 

Tuesday we got up early and went to Sea World. One thing about me is that I don’t like crowds, and when it comes to theme parks, I’m pretty neurotic about planning things so that we minimize crowds. We got to the park 30 minutes before it opened (thus gaining a sweet parking spot) and saw Shamu swim. Then we (as planned) hit the two popular rides before the crowds came, and the started watching the shows, it was a busy and full day, with more to do than we had time for. We had fun going to all the stuff, my favorite part was the dolphin encounter, where all the kids got to touch a dolphin. 


 We did not heed the “splash zone” warning and got soaked by Shamu at his show. That show was the least favorite of my kids, especially Katrina who did not want to get splashed.

Wednesday was the Wild Animal Safari. Honestly, this was my least favorite of the parks it was way too big and you had to walk really far to get to the different places. The shows there were really piddly and honestly, I would rather go to SLC’s Hogle zoo instead. On the upside, the kids did get to feed some birds.

 

Thursday we went back to the Zoo and realized how smart we had been to come at 5:00 PM the previous time. People had fun, but again, it was lot of walking and some of the exhibits were just so-so. Everyone voted to leave early to come home and watch a movie. It was good to have a little down time after we've been running so hard.

Friday was back to Sea World, which I think is 100x better than the zoo and safari park put together. We rode the 3 best rides 10 times before 10:30. I really liked the wet ride until I rode it for the 4th time and got soaked.



 We re-watched some of our favorite shows. The Cirque de la Mer was awesome, and we also loved the night time sea lion show.

We had determined to save the best for last, and so on Saturday we went to Torrey Pines again and had a wonderful time there again. I love that beach! We did lots of great boogey boarding…Lani and I even did a double boogie board kiss (that might have been the best part of the whole trip!) We did the awesome hike again and loved walking on the beach and enjoying the sunset.

 

After enjoying two sets of church (Dale and Kathy’s and Lani’s old ward) we went to the Mormon Battalion Center (awesome!) and came home to get ready for an early start the next day. Part 4 of the vacation was about to begin!