lewis and clark had a journal. you, beth-annie, have a diary.

Tuesday, October 28, 2008
Somebody's 2.

What did Ava get for her birthday? Conjunctivitis! And eye drops every four hours! (That one's a gift for Mommy, too, who gets to try to wrestle them into her.) Yay!

beth, 2:23 PM || We are 9 comments. Read us!

Saturday, October 25, 2008
Trip-o-logue. Day Four. Sea World and Sea World.

We had two-day tickets to Sea World, but wanted to do everything in one day if we could, both to have more time to do other things and to save ourselves a second $12 parking charge. (Incidentally, on our entire trip, the only times we had to pay for parking at all were at Sea World, the Wild Animal Park, and Seaport Village, plus one metered spot downtown when we went on our harbor tour. Everywhere else we parked -- beach lots, shopping areas, parking garages, street parking -- was completely free. I was shocked. Also shocked that we bought gas for only $3.75 when gas in Cedar Rapids was $3.59. The most expensive gas prices we saw were around $4 a gallon, and cheaper than that was the norm. I figured California would be significantly more expensive. Guess not.)

The problem with Sea World is that if you want to see any of the shows, you really have to schedule your whole day around them (there were only two or three scheduled times for each show the day we were there). Because the timing was right, we went to the sea lion show first thing. It was... about what I expected from a show that tries to cater to everyone, especially families/kids (read: not exactly my cup of tea, but entertaining enough for what it was).

Just a pretty 'quarium.

This picture would be so awesome if not for the condensation on the glass. Even so, pretty awesome. (I could have stared at the jellyfish for hours -- I'm fascinated watching them move.)

Ava enjoyed counting the starfish. They also had a tide pool area where you could reach in the water and pick the starfish up. Ava didn't want to touch them, but she liked pointing at them and saying "starfish" over and over. [Video]

The only other show we went to was the Shamu show (not counting the Sesame Street 4-D movie, which isn't really a show), because, well, you just have to, don't you? It was very different from the sea lion show, which had dialogue and a miniscule plot; this one was just set to music. I have to say, it was pretty spectacular to see such magnificent animals in person (I never had before).

Maybe my favorite thing at the park was the ray exhibit, where you could actually reach in and touch bat rays (not manta rays or sting rays people usually think of, though the little stuffed ray we bought for Ava we called a manta ray, because that's the name she knows). They felt super-smooth (but not really slimy), and I could have done that for ages.

My other favorite thing? The manatees. I love them. This was my first time seeing one in person (actually, it was three), and I was in awe. (Are you sensing a pattern, here? ;-))

They don't let you do this to the real ones. :-)

We didn't go to the dolphin show, but did catch some of the trainers working with them.

After we'd seen the most important (to us) animal exhibits, it was time to let Ava loose at the new Sesame Street Bay of Play. It had water play areas and a bunch of jungle-gym-type play equipment that Ava was really too young for, and also a few kiddie rides.

Elmo's Flying Fish was like the Dumbo ride at the Disney parks.

Oscar's Rocking Eel was the other ride that was open (a teacup-type ride was closed when we were there). Ava kept going back and forth between wanting to "ride Elmo" and "ride Oscar." Since there weren't really any lines, we were able to do that for a while. [Video]

She also very much enjoyed the "Jumping Jets" water area.

She started out kind of timid, but got closer and closer as she got more and more brave. She was not very happy when we finally left the area. [Video]

Ava was happier when we got her her very own Elmo... and then she fell asleep. :-)

After we left the Bay of Play, it was time for me to get my thrill ride for the day, on Journey to Atlantis. It's part leisurely log ride, part Splash Mountain (as you can see) and part roller coaster (to my surprise the first time, the roller coaster part actually came after the big splashdown). I only had time to ride it twice as the park was closing soon, but would have gone more if I'd had time. That's me in the blue shirt in the third row (behind the empty row).

After we left Sea World we went to a few more "Veronica Mars" locations before it got dark. Which isn't important except that our excursion took us to San Diego State University, where I took this awesome photo.

beth, 11:02 PM || I am a comment. Read me!

Monday, October 13, 2008
M-I-C-K-E-Y...

Ava's favorite show is officially "Mickey Mouse Clubhouse."

I think I know what her birthday cake is going to be this year. :-)

beth, 4:24 PM || We are 4 comments. Read us!

Tuesday, October 7, 2008
Trip-o-logue. Day Three. Balboa and Coronado.

Lots of pictures, blah, blah, blah. (Seriously. Even more than last post.)

We decided to visit some of the "Veronica Mars" beach locations first thing in the morning when we figured the crowds wouldn't be very big and we could actually find parking. We went to Dog Beach, where Ava got too close to the water and, as it was her first time in any kind of surf, promptly got knocked down and soaked her shorts, while I soaked my shoes -- which were unfortunately athletic shoes rather than water-friendly flip-flops, as we were planning to spend most of the day walking around Balboa Park (so of course I then had to switch to less walking-friendly flip-flops for that). She liked watching the dogs, though, and despite the fact that they were all unleashed (it's the only beach in San Diego where that's allowed), which tends to freak her out, they were all extremely well-behaved and none of them came up to her and scared her. Yay, dogs!

Mission Beach was another spot we went to, and while I snapped a few "Veronica Mars" photos, Ava headed straight for the water. Again. (Daddy made sure she stayed out of the water this time.)

Adjacent to Mission Beach along the boardwalk is a small amusement park called Belmont Park. It had just barely opened for the day, but I wanted to ride the Giant Dipper, which is one of the oldest roller coasters in the country (built in the 1920s) and on the National Register of Historic Places. Even at $6 a pop, the ride was worth it. Old-timey and fun.

Most of our day was spent at Balboa Park, which is a large cultural park with museums, gardens, theatres, etc., as well as the San Diego Zoo (which we did not go to). Most of the buildings in the park were built for the 1915 Panama-California Exposition, which celebrated the completion of the Panama Canal and hoped to put San Diego on the map (so to speak) as a popular port of call for ships using the canal.

Our first stop in Balboa Park was Palm Canyon, a small canyon with walking trails and dozens of types of palm trees. We couldn't walk through it like we would have if we hadn't had Ava asleep in the stroller, as the only way down into the canyon and to most of the trails was down stairs. But I went down myself briefly while Josh stayed up top. This photo is from within the canyon.

Me and my flower-picture-taking. (This won't be the last one, either.)

There was a giant lizard sculpture made of a mosaic of glass and stones. This is it. I swear.

Balboa Park has lots of fancy-schmancy architecture (more of that below), but also some in the simpler California mission style, which is more my speed. I like this picture.

Not that the more ornate buildings aren't pretty. This is the California Tower at the Museum of Man, which is one of the most-photographed parts of the park.

Here you can get a better idea of the scale of the tower. This is the Alcazar Garden, a formal Spanish garden with several fountains.

Fountains which Ava, of course, was not interested in at all. ;-)

A lot of the walking in Balboa Park was under covered walkways like this one, which made for a cooler trek than if we'd had to be out in the sun the whole time.

Behind the fountain is the Spreckels Organ Pavilion, one of the largest outdoor pipe organs in the world.

They have free concerts every Sunday, and we staked out a spot in the shade. We saw pictures from the 1930s or so where they had literally tens of thousands of people gathered at the pavilion and surrounding area. There were maybe a couple hundred people there that day.

Ava always enjoys a good organ music dance. [Video]

Family portrait.

After the concert we got to go up and get a closer look at things. It was big.

They also let people go up a set of stairs and take a peek inside the actual organ.

The roof of the Botanical Building is actually made of thousands of wood slats to let the light in.

Funky flower.

The Lily Pond. And more of the typical Balboa Park architecture in the background.

My Bougainvillea is everywhere here. *sigh*

Ava and I rode the little train that traveled around one corner of the park. Ava likes the trains.

Ava also likes the carousels. I know she doesn't look particularly happy here, but she certainly was once the ride started. (And threw a small fit when we got off. Which is typical.) The carousel is almost a century old, and most of the animals are even still original. It's one of the only ones in the world where you can still grab the brass ring. Obviously, I didn't. :-)

Another one of the gardens was the Desert Garden, perched on top of a hill on the edge of the park. Of course, this was a favorite of mine as I love cacti and other succulent plants.

Ava did not agree with our decision to not let her go in the fountain on the right.

After we left the park we drove across the Coronado Bridge to check out Coronado. The most famous thing on the island is the Hotel del Coronado, a 120-year-old resort that has hosted many Presidents and other notable people over the years. It was also in the movie "Some Like it Hot."

The hotel courtyard was very pretty. (The room prices, not so much: I checked, and the cheapest room is close to $300 a night. In the off-season.)

This is the beach just off the hotel. It was relatively quiet compared to the beaches in San Diego, which was refreshing. The biggest problem with it was that it was so wide (or should that be deep?) that it took forever to walk across the sand to get to the water (especially with sand being so annoying to walk on). We walked to the beach a little ways in the distance here for the following photos.

We had to be about this far away in order to see the entire Hotel del Coronado. It's a little ginormous.

This was the only real ocean sunset we managed to catch on our trip, but it was a darn fine one.

We actually put Ava in her swimsuit for the first time on our trip here, and she very much enjoyed getting soaked (we didn't get any good photos of that, but there will be others). The water wasn't super warm, but it actually wasn't as cold as I was afraid it would be, either. (We didn't actually swim at dusk, by the way, this was on the walk back to the car.)

Cutie-face.

We drove around the island looking for a place to eat a late supper, and came across a waterfront area of shops and restaurants called Ferry Landing Marketplace, which faced downtown San Diego just across the harbor. We ate at a local pizzeria there and quite enjoyed the atmosphere, which included some lovely lit ponds with little waterfalls.

Did I mention the view of downtown was fantastic? Fan. Tastic.

I love our camera. :-)

beth, 11:49 PM || We are 9 comments. Read us!