Pirate Plunder

One last day of driving. We travelled over 5,000km, visited to a zoo, went to three aquariums, explored a theme park and toured an aircraft carrier. All in 9 days. We were very tired by the time our final day came along. Our night two destination was Newport Oregon and we got in very late. Thankfully, we only had about 7 hours of driving left so we had some time to sleep in and tour the town before we left. Our day started with a beautiful view from our hotel room. We had gotten in late enough that we knew the ocean was out there but we couldn't see it.

We didn't get to see much of Newport but we're pretty sure the Aquarium is worth going to. All we had time to do was tour the gift shop. There was a line up out the door and parking lot was big and full. If we go back we will have to check it our in more detail. Another highlight is apparently rocks. Several of the stores in The Pirate Plunder Antiques and Collectibles Mall had many locally sourced rocks. I would have loved to find the beaches they were getting them from. Jars and jars of agates to be found.

The Pirate alley was okay but a bit of a gimmick to have people check out what was mostly just second hand stores. There were a few local artists with some interesting things. If it was located on the water I think it would have been better. As it was, it was really just a business park.

We had a great time on our trip and we're all warmed up to do the same thing to Disneyland with the cousins this summer.

Paul Bunyan and his ox Blue

Our second day of travel from San Diego to Surrey had us starting in Santa Cruz which is only an hour south of San Francisco. The shorter route would have been the Bay Bridge but I've always wanted to drive over the Golden Gate Bridge. I've been to San Francisco but there was no need to travel over the bridge while I was there so this was an opportunity to rectify that. It was of course slightly less exciting than anticipated as it was quite foggy on all sides. Still good to be able to say we drove over it before the big earth quake destroys it.

Although the I-5 is the quicker route through California, because we were taking 3 days to travel, we were able to take the more scenic route. This included the 101 which goes along the coast of Northern California and Oregon. Wherever we came close to the ocean there were always a lot of waves making for a very scenic drive. The road itself was generally pretty good, with speed limits of 65 and not a lot of traffic. There were a few areas with some tight curves but they were in the forest so we could enjoy the scenery as we went.

As it turned out, this was still a long day of driving, even though we split the trip into three days. We were on the road for 14 1/2 hours including stops today so when we did stop we couldn't stay long. The one item we regretted not being able to do was the Trees of Mystery which was an old growth stand off the highway. Getting there would have been a 20 minute walk plus a 7 minute tram just to get to the forest and we didn't have time to do it. We did still check out the gift shop which was fun as it included some very large statues of Paul Bunyan and his ox Blue. Our destination today was Newport.

Santa Cruz Boardwalk

When we drove down to San Diego we did it in just two days with a stop over in Redding, California. This was a lot of driving, (For Kerry) and didn't leave much time for sight seeing. On the way home we planned to do it in three days. This would make for shorter driving days and would allow us to stop in a few locations that we haven't been before. The first destination was Santa Cruz, chosen mainly because it is a city we recognize, it's on the beach and it was about a third of the way home. Our plan was to get a hotel near the boardwalk and go there for dinner.

The first part of our plan went well. We did indeed book a hotel just blocks from the boardwalk. Unfortunately when we arrived, it seems the majority of the place was closed. Only the indoor portions are open during the week in the winter and many rides only open on the weekend. It looks like a great place. There are roller coasters, a skyline, a midway and lot's of fun and exciting food. (By that I mean, deep fried everything including Oreos and peanut butter and jam sandwiches.) We did manage to get in a good game of mini-golf. The holes were well designed in a pirate theme.

For dinner, we went to the nearby pier which had several restaurants to choose from. We went with Woodies Cafe as it had something for everyone. The pier also gave us a good look back on the boardwalk which  is the longest continuously running boardwalk on the Californian coast. It first opened 100 years ago and where many other boardwalks have closed or burnt down at some point in their history this one managed to keep their fires to a minimum and stay open. (Though I question the term 'Continuously Running' when you aren't open on a warm Friday evening during spring break.:))

USS Midway

Our final day in San Diego had us going to visit the USS Midway, a retired aircraft carrier in the San Diego bay. This was the last item on our San Diego Go Card that saved us well over $100 and with the exception of a small hiccup at LEGOLAND worked out very well for us. We customized ours which allowed us to make sure we knew what we were getting. It was also cheaper than the generic version that included more items but likely items we would not have had time to go to anyways.

As I'm looking through my pictures from today I'm realizing that I don't have a single shot that shows the entire ship. Despite being a 'smaller' aircraft carrier the ship is still huge. The full hanger deck was open and they had all the key areas set up as part of the self guided tour including the mess hall, captain and crew quarters, sick bay, the dentist, the barber as well as the flight deck. They had planes from all major eras starting with world war II and a good selection of helicopters.

I knew this destination was going to be a harder sell with the kids since it's not as exciting as Seaworld or the Zoo but once they were on board there was a glimmer of interest. Carter even stated "This was more interesting than I thought it was going to be." Callie won't admit to liking it but she was seemed very interested in the areas that showed the lives of the crew and didn't rush us to leave. It was useful that there was a scavenger hunt for the kids that allowed them to earn their pilots wings. The veteran administering it at the end even got them to salute.

We at the Midway for about three hours which is what most families indicated they stayed for. Afterwards we went to Seaside Village for lunch and a treat and then drove back to the beach in Coronado. Even though it was only 21 degrees, when you are in the sun it felt quite warm. The water on the other hand was freezing. Carter didn't seem to mind as he spent at least  half an hour splashing about and yelling at the waves. (As he gets older that may start to look less cute.) tomorrow we are off to Santa Cruz and our time in California will be over.

LEGOLAND

Today we traveled about 30 minutes outside of San Diego to Carlsbad which is the home to LEGOLAND. One of the reasons that I wanted to to San Diego when the kids were this age was because I had heard that LEGOLAND caters to the 6-12 year old crowd and much older than that and theywould not find it as interesting. (Your interest picks up again when you hit about 30 and you're making enough money to buy all those Lego sets you wanted as a kid and couldn't afford.)

The park claimed to open at 9:00a however that turned out to be a bit of a trick. The gates open and a few rides at the front of the park are open but most rides don't open until 10:00a. That means you're stuck in the shops buying Lego until the rides open. Our first ride was the Pharaoh's Revenge which was an odd mash up of an Egyptian tomb and laser blasters. One thing we noticed a lot during the day was that the whole park is built as if they bought a theme park from someone else and then added a few Lego characters here and there. Less things were made of Lego than I was expecting.

We managed to get a few rides in before lunch including some where Carter was the only one allowed on. Unlike Disneyland where virtually every ride is made for all ages and sizes, many of the LEGOLAND rides are only built for little kids. This worked out well for Carter who enjoyed being able to do rides that his sister could not.

After lunch we had a bit of time before heading to the water park so we tried out the Splash Battle which looked like it was going to be a lot of fun because we could aim our water blasters at other boats. As it turned out the range was much too short and we couldn't hit anyone while we are on the ride. On the shore however, there were blasters for spectators and they were able to completely soak us. I got my revenge later when the kids and I took a turn at the pedestrian water cannons. (My apologies to the lady in the white sweater who was absolutely soaked. I lost myself for a moment.)

After a few more rides we took a break to go to the water park which was included with our ticket. Or at least it was supposed to be. We bought the upgraded ticket as part of our San Diego Go Pass but when it was converted at the gate she didn't make it a park hopper. Luckily we explained things to guest services and they straightened it out for the water park and the aquarium. The water park was nice though there was an emphasis on play areas for younger kids and not as many water slides. I spent a bit of time in the wave pool and took a nice nap while the kids and Kerry went in the lazy river.

The one item that I definitely wanted to check out while I was here was all of the miniature cities and other Lego creations. I knew that there was going to be some good city scapes but there were also quite a few Star Wars scenes. My understanding is that they now have some pretty good software for designing these things and it includes layer by layer directions. You don't even have to be a master builder to do the build. Someone with CAD experience does the design and then hands the directions off to someone else to do the build.

After miniature land and some time getting gifts in the gift shop, we went to Heart Lake City which is a relatively new line of Lego. It was unfortunately quite disappointing. They are building a massive area for the Lego Ninja-go series with a new roller coaster of some kind but for Heart Lake City there was just a carousel, a horse in it's barn, a fountain and a stage. Lego still needs to do some work before they can say they're handling gender equality properly.

We finished our day at the Lego Aquarium which was similar to other areas of the park where it looked like they bought it from someone else and then added a few Lego characters. I didn't get the sense that they were building the exhibits from the ground up with Lego parts in mind. It was still a nice aquarium. Carter got to see some more sharks and Callie got to see some more rays.
LEGOLAND was a great place to go for a day but I think we saw everything we needed to and probably wouldn't go back. (Until the kids are 30 and want to buy that 3000 piece Millennium Falcon.)

Sea World

On Tuesday our destination was Sea World. There continues to be a lot of controversy around whether Sea World is a 'good' organisation or a 'bad' organisation since they have whales in captivity. My hope is that if they had to choose today they would choose not to add more Orcas to their collection directly from the wild. Time will tell. Sea World San Diego has a mix of exhibits and rides and the first ride on the list was Journey to Atlantis. It looked a lot like Splash Mountain but a bit more rickety so Callie and I passed. We were glad we did because Carter and Kerry got absolutely soaked.

While Carter and Kerry were standing in line for the ride Callie and I headed over to get seats for our first show. This was one of my favourites the last time I was here and this time didn't disappoint. It starts with a bit of a pre show while everyone is getting seated with a 'crew member' getting the stage ready and mixing it up with dances to various songs. He even did the bucket scene from Flash Dance which I can't help but assume will become less relevant over time. (I don't even remember having watched that movie.)

The sea lions were very good at their acts. They appear quite trainable and looked very cute in their costumes for their dance routines.

After the Sea Lions we had lunch. This is where I make a recommendation regarding  Sea World. If you only have time to go to one thing, definitely go to the zoo. Sea World is good if you like sea creatures but the customer experience is not the same. I sent for lunch at the Ship Wreck Reef cafe and it was quite terrible. Everyone lines up in the same line to get their food and just grabs the food from under the heat lamps, however a few kids really wanted chicken fingers and they were out so the whole line ground to a halt. I think it took 20 minutes to grab my meal which was cold since the heat lamps weren't actually heat lamps. There weren't any staff nearby to even notice that things weren't moving. (I will stop complaining now.)

Our next show was the orcas. This is the show that has gotten a lot of attention since the documentary 'Black Fish' and I will admit, even though the pool they are in looks big, these guys move pretty quick and obviously don't have enough room. The show was very different from when I was here last since none of the trainers are allowed in the pool. The orcas seem to be enjoying themselves but that's because they get fed the entire show. The best part was when they used their tails to splash the crowed. A bit of gentle revenge for them.

With all the waiting for the shows, our day was coming to an end pretty fast and we still hadn't been to all the exhibits. Everyone picked one thing they really wanted to see and for Carter that was the Shark Encounter. He'd been talking about Great Whites and Megladon's all day and was very excited to see the sharks. The exhibit is great because you start above water and see them from the top and then take a ramp that brings you underneath through a glass tunnel. At the end was a megaldon mouth with teeth. I don't think Carter realized just how big they were.

Kerry's final ride was going to be the Manta roller coaster which was a bit too fast for the rest of us so we went to the Bat Ray feeding pool nearby while we waited. You could buy some fish to feed them which is a pretty good scam, since you are paying for their food that Sea World has to provide anyways. Feeding them was lot's of fun. You stick the fish between your fingers and get your arm as far into the pool as you can. The ray then swims over top and sucks the fish right out of your hand. I was amazed that Callie tried first without even knowing what was going to happen. She had lot's of fun.

We were now set up for the highlight of the day. We had watched the dolphin feeding a few hours earlier from the side of the pool but Callie had really wanted to do the 'Dolphin Encounter' which gives you an up close feeding opportunity. They take about 20 people every few hours and you get to go right up to the side of the pool with a trainer and your own dolphin. I asked Callie what her dolphins name was and she was certain it was 'Slimy'. We checked Wikipedia afterwards and we all agree the name was probably 'Steime'.

We got the last tickets available for the day and originally it was going to be Callie and Kerry but we managed to convince Carter to go and I think he was glad we did. He got a chance to let the dolphin touch his hand with his nose. Other tricks included, dancing, spinning and playing dead. They also got to touch the dolphins and learn about them directly from the trainer. A great experience and even though these dolphins are in captivity, I think they like being there. They really seem to enjoy contact with people.

The 'Dolphin Encounter' was our last event and we left Sea World to go downtown for dinner. We ended up at an area called Sea Side Village which had a lot of stores that were probably for the local cruise ship industry. Lot's of restaurants, trinkets and sweet stores. (So of course I liked it a lot.) We had dinner at a restaurant on the water and saw the sun set at the US Navy yard across the bay. The only sad part was when we saw a Bichon which was very fitting since today would have been Wilson's 13th birthday. Very therapeutic to be able to pet a bichon on this special day.

The San Diego Zoo

After two days of driving we made it to San Diego and it was time for our first outing. The weather was going to be a bit on the cool side so we selected the San Diego Zoo as our first destination. This was their 100 year anniversary and they've developed into one of the largest conservation organizations in the world with an operating budget of over 280 million a year.  The zoo itself grew out exotic animal exhibitions abandoned after the 1915 Panama-California Expo.

We arrived shortly after the zoo opened and one of the first animals on Callie's list was the Koala exhibit. Koala's don't exactly move very much but they sure are cute. They keep the boys and girls in different areas and each one of them has their own artificial tree. The next big destination was the giraffe's. There were at least a half dozen of them and even a couple of babies. The San Diego zoo has an excellent breeding program and the smallest giraffe was just three years old. (Yet still 6 or 7 feet tall.)

I was just taking my regular random pictures but Carter sent me on a very specific mission. He wanted me to take pictures of animal bums. Not really sure why but when you're 7, animal bums are apparently very funny. Here was one of my better shots. A pair of camels. The animals look very different when you are only looking at their bums. Good thing I had my zoom lens on.

When we were in the arctic exhibit we had some unusual guests. There was a mama duck and her ducklings wandering through the visitor area. I'm pretty sure the ducklings have figured out that kids with popcorn are a good score. Mama duck was not very successful at getting them out from under everyone's feet. Callie tried to give her a hand and did manage to get the family to a safe place in the trees. She even found another nest with mama and some unhatched eggs. It's at this point that Kerry tried to convince Callie that she should do her homework as she's destined to work with animals and needs to study.

Carter also had me on another photo essay mission. The zoo has all sorts of animal sculptures and I had to take a picture of him with each of them. The fun part was that he tried to assume the same pose as the statue he was pictured with. Here he's a tortoise bench. He was also a gorilla beating his chest, a lizard sticking his tongue out and my favourite, some sort of stick insect in a tree. He also did very well with a lion with his paws crossed.

One of the other animals on our must see list was the panda exhibit. The San Diego Zoo is the site of the first Panda ever born in captivity in the US and they continue to have great success. Unfortunately for us, the Panda's were pretty much sleeping and we didn't get much more than a bum picture, which I suppose fit nicely with the theme of the day. Our other favourite exhibits included elephants, polar bears, tigers, penguins and of course penny machines. We didn't even get to see everything it's so big and they are expanding again in 2017. Great place to visit.

We ended our day with a visit to downtown Coronado, which is an island/peninsula near downtown San Diego. We wanted to stop for dinner and check out the sunset. I had a conference here a few years ago and the hotel was built in 1887 so there is lot of history in the area. Many hotels of this era got too expensive to maintain and they were torn down. This one was saved partly because of the amazing location and the amazing beach it sits on. We had dinner at a local pizzeria and came back to the hotel for a swim. Tomorrow we're off to Sea World!