SoCal Trip 2008!
It's about time I posted these. Any longer, and I'd forget what these pictures were of.
The first and most important step on a long road trip... go to your local Fred Meyer's store and buy yourself a driver (and road snacks).
SoCal Trip 2008, starring...
Cassie!
Desiree!
Cassie's big bro, Brian! (Sorry, ladies, he's taken.)
And of course me, your faithful host.
After catching up with SoCal family members, our troupe first decided to hit the beach! Huntington Beach, to be exact.
Brian's daughter, Cadence, who was quite upset at the idea of sand at first, but soon came to love it. Note to self: Turn off the auto-flash when you're on a beach in full daylight.
Cadence in the confines of her fabulous new sand castle. She had to be bodily lifted out later, as she viewed the 2-inch moat as an actual impassable barrier.
A cute father/daughter shot.
Ladies on the beach! Introducing Cassie's daughter and my youngest niece, Madison. Also, proof why my hair should never be near saltwater. IT CURLS.
This picture, of course, was taken before we discovered how bad we are at applying sunscreen. Later that evening we could be found Googling directions to the nearest WalMart so we could get ourselves aloe lotion.
PALM TREES. Oh, you're in SoCal now.
The troupe, now with Brian's girlfriend Krista (and minus your host/photographer) on the cool pier that jutted out over the water.
A view back towards the beach from the pier. The pier was probably half-a-mile long, and lined with little souvenir shops, with a restaurant at the very end. There were a bunch of surfers in the water, and even a surfing competition going on.
Future rock-star Madison glams up the scene with her Aunt Kristen's sunglasses.
Tuesday, we took off on a two-hour drive down to San Diego to see the fabulous SeaWorld theme park! I'd never been here before, so I took lots of pictures.
Dolphin pool with nifty underwater viewing-glass.
One of the attractions was Cirque de la Mer, an acrobatics show over water. For the finale, they stuck a kid from the audience in the giant plastic ball up top and rolled him down the set into the water.
They also had skydancers performing, which I thought was nifty.
Then we viewed all sorts of strange critters in their little tanks. The cuttlefish here barely glowed at all in the tank, but my camera flash lit up their underbellies quite nicely.
The creepiest thing about this one is that without the camera flash, this dude was almost completely invisible in the tank (also, he's HUGE). So when I went back to look at the picture I took, I nearly gave myself a heart attack to see this guy staring out at me.
Some anemones that looked like lava, all sitting together.
HI GUYS I'M AN OCTOPUS LOL.
Later, there were giant building-sized tanks that you walked through in tunnels. There were leopard sharks, sea turtles, and giant bass.
Sleepy turtle is sleepy.
In the middle of the park, there was a fenced off lagoon packed with flamingos...
...and some very photogenic ducks, who probably just flew in for the free food.
There were lots of performance shows, such as the comedy skit with trained otters, seals, and walruses. The seals were better actors than the humans...
We stopped to watch the interactive dolphin attraction. If you signed up beforehand, visitors got a chance to go in the pool and the trainers would introduce them to a dolphin, and teach them a few commands to make the dolphin do tricks. The dolphin in this pic was my favorite, it was the biggest of the bunch and a much darker grey than the others.
I think my favorite show was the 'Pets Rule!' show, which I didn't even know they had here. They had a huge assortment of trained animals come out and do tricks, like this black Lab here who set up the 'perfect doggy date' for his little poodle girlfriend (even though I think the poodle's a guy).
It wasn't just dogs, either. They had cats who would climb ropes or wires on command, parrots, geese, doves, even a couple pot-bellied pigs. And they were also all abandoned or rescued animals, as well.
But of course, the highlight was the Shamu show.
Right after I took this shot, the orca catapulted her into the air. I am so not brave enough to be an orca trainer. They also did a cool trick where the trainers would ride on the orca's noses and sorta 'fly' around the pool. There's a good example of it at about 1:25 in this video from Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch
While we were eating dinner, a family of ducklings came through the restaurant patio looking for crumbs. At times, the ducklings were literally under my feet. They were so cute! A little toddler boy at the next table kept trying to chase them, and his mother had to rescue him from an irate momma duck.
They had a cool foam pit where toddlers could play, and Madison quite enjoyed herself. Cassie also got her sandals stolen by a little girl, much to the delight of all the other parents around the circle (they were immediately returned by the girl's chuckling father).
And last of the SeaWorld pictures, a lazy polar bear in his habitat!
We weren't able to make it to the manatee or shark exhibits, but we did get to see the nighttime dolphin and pyrotechnics show, which was awesome, but my battery needed serious recharging. They also had a cool show being done by hip-hop dancers and gymnasts as we were leaving.
Wednesday was Disney Day, in celebration of Desiree's birthday! We could only go on so many rides with the baby, but it was still pretty fun. The Haunted Mansion was closed the last time I was there, so I got to see it for the first time. Strangely, it was probably Madison's favorite ride.
This was the nifty jazz singer in the New Orleans section of the park. You know you're fabulous if you can wear purple and orange and still look good.
Toon Town was the best place for photo ops with our new Mickey ears. I discovered that apparently, the best way to get people to treat me like my actual age is to wear bride ears. I kept getting congratulations all day and had to explain to people that I just got them 'cuz I thought they were pretty. Then of course, there were the hilarious misunderstandings that came from one of my friends also wearing a top hat in a state that just legalized gay marriage... *facepalm*
Mickey picture, of course! Taken shortly before Mickey gave Madison a smooch on the cheek and caused a meltdown.
...Oh man, the bride & groom ears are even more obvious here. I should have just gotten a top hat too.
After meeting Mickey, we watched the parade go through the downtown area.
Really fuzzy, but we were behind a lot of peope, and my zoom function is only so good. Anyways, this be one of the dancers preceding the Little Mermaid floats.
AAAAAA SAVANYA SOMETHING SOMETHING DADABA. Best Disney film ever!
We stopped into another ear-selling hut after Cass lost her ears on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. And there I found Aviator Mickey ears! And huge-like-XBox sunglasses! Don't let me near aviator stuff, seriously. Terrible things will happen.
We also got to watch the closing fireworks show before we left, and then there was the whole drama where Cass left her new camcorder behind and we had to make lots of phone calls to the Lost & Found. It was recovered, thankfully, though not without some crabbiness on everyone's part. :D
And with that, the rest of the week wound down, with lounging by the pool and some Fourth of July celebrating.
Pollution makes for some interesting sunsets. Though the pic doesn't quite capture it, the sun was hot pink.
On the way back home, we stopped in San Francisco to visit our old buddy Alicia, who took us to lunch in Japantown, where we had okonimiyaki! And then later, we mocked me by posing all anime-cutesy. Good times.
One last sunset picture, taken on the long drive home.
singing I never meant to cause you trouble
I never meant to do you wrong
and I, if I ever caused you trouble
oh no I never meant to do you harm
The first and most important step on a long road trip... go to your local Fred Meyer's store and buy yourself a driver (and road snacks).
SoCal Trip 2008, starring...
Cassie!
Desiree!
Cassie's big bro, Brian! (Sorry, ladies, he's taken.)
And of course me, your faithful host.
After catching up with SoCal family members, our troupe first decided to hit the beach! Huntington Beach, to be exact.
Brian's daughter, Cadence, who was quite upset at the idea of sand at first, but soon came to love it. Note to self: Turn off the auto-flash when you're on a beach in full daylight.
Cadence in the confines of her fabulous new sand castle. She had to be bodily lifted out later, as she viewed the 2-inch moat as an actual impassable barrier.
A cute father/daughter shot.
Ladies on the beach! Introducing Cassie's daughter and my youngest niece, Madison. Also, proof why my hair should never be near saltwater. IT CURLS.
This picture, of course, was taken before we discovered how bad we are at applying sunscreen. Later that evening we could be found Googling directions to the nearest WalMart so we could get ourselves aloe lotion.
PALM TREES. Oh, you're in SoCal now.
The troupe, now with Brian's girlfriend Krista (and minus your host/photographer) on the cool pier that jutted out over the water.
A view back towards the beach from the pier. The pier was probably half-a-mile long, and lined with little souvenir shops, with a restaurant at the very end. There were a bunch of surfers in the water, and even a surfing competition going on.
Future rock-star Madison glams up the scene with her Aunt Kristen's sunglasses.
Tuesday, we took off on a two-hour drive down to San Diego to see the fabulous SeaWorld theme park! I'd never been here before, so I took lots of pictures.
Dolphin pool with nifty underwater viewing-glass.
One of the attractions was Cirque de la Mer, an acrobatics show over water. For the finale, they stuck a kid from the audience in the giant plastic ball up top and rolled him down the set into the water.
They also had skydancers performing, which I thought was nifty.
Then we viewed all sorts of strange critters in their little tanks. The cuttlefish here barely glowed at all in the tank, but my camera flash lit up their underbellies quite nicely.
The creepiest thing about this one is that without the camera flash, this dude was almost completely invisible in the tank (also, he's HUGE). So when I went back to look at the picture I took, I nearly gave myself a heart attack to see this guy staring out at me.
Some anemones that looked like lava, all sitting together.
HI GUYS I'M AN OCTOPUS LOL.
Later, there were giant building-sized tanks that you walked through in tunnels. There were leopard sharks, sea turtles, and giant bass.
Sleepy turtle is sleepy.
In the middle of the park, there was a fenced off lagoon packed with flamingos...
...and some very photogenic ducks, who probably just flew in for the free food.
There were lots of performance shows, such as the comedy skit with trained otters, seals, and walruses. The seals were better actors than the humans...
We stopped to watch the interactive dolphin attraction. If you signed up beforehand, visitors got a chance to go in the pool and the trainers would introduce them to a dolphin, and teach them a few commands to make the dolphin do tricks. The dolphin in this pic was my favorite, it was the biggest of the bunch and a much darker grey than the others.
I think my favorite show was the 'Pets Rule!' show, which I didn't even know they had here. They had a huge assortment of trained animals come out and do tricks, like this black Lab here who set up the 'perfect doggy date' for his little poodle girlfriend (even though I think the poodle's a guy).
It wasn't just dogs, either. They had cats who would climb ropes or wires on command, parrots, geese, doves, even a couple pot-bellied pigs. And they were also all abandoned or rescued animals, as well.
But of course, the highlight was the Shamu show.
Right after I took this shot, the orca catapulted her into the air. I am so not brave enough to be an orca trainer. They also did a cool trick where the trainers would ride on the orca's noses and sorta 'fly' around the pool. There's a good example of it at about 1:25 in this video from Youtube: www.youtube.com/watch
While we were eating dinner, a family of ducklings came through the restaurant patio looking for crumbs. At times, the ducklings were literally under my feet. They were so cute! A little toddler boy at the next table kept trying to chase them, and his mother had to rescue him from an irate momma duck.
They had a cool foam pit where toddlers could play, and Madison quite enjoyed herself. Cassie also got her sandals stolen by a little girl, much to the delight of all the other parents around the circle (they were immediately returned by the girl's chuckling father).
And last of the SeaWorld pictures, a lazy polar bear in his habitat!
We weren't able to make it to the manatee or shark exhibits, but we did get to see the nighttime dolphin and pyrotechnics show, which was awesome, but my battery needed serious recharging. They also had a cool show being done by hip-hop dancers and gymnasts as we were leaving.
Wednesday was Disney Day, in celebration of Desiree's birthday! We could only go on so many rides with the baby, but it was still pretty fun. The Haunted Mansion was closed the last time I was there, so I got to see it for the first time. Strangely, it was probably Madison's favorite ride.
This was the nifty jazz singer in the New Orleans section of the park. You know you're fabulous if you can wear purple and orange and still look good.
Toon Town was the best place for photo ops with our new Mickey ears. I discovered that apparently, the best way to get people to treat me like my actual age is to wear bride ears. I kept getting congratulations all day and had to explain to people that I just got them 'cuz I thought they were pretty. Then of course, there were the hilarious misunderstandings that came from one of my friends also wearing a top hat in a state that just legalized gay marriage... *facepalm*
Mickey picture, of course! Taken shortly before Mickey gave Madison a smooch on the cheek and caused a meltdown.
...Oh man, the bride & groom ears are even more obvious here. I should have just gotten a top hat too.
After meeting Mickey, we watched the parade go through the downtown area.
Really fuzzy, but we were behind a lot of peope, and my zoom function is only so good. Anyways, this be one of the dancers preceding the Little Mermaid floats.
AAAAAA SAVANYA SOMETHING SOMETHING DADABA. Best Disney film ever!
We stopped into another ear-selling hut after Cass lost her ears on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride. And there I found Aviator Mickey ears! And huge-like-XBox sunglasses! Don't let me near aviator stuff, seriously. Terrible things will happen.
We also got to watch the closing fireworks show before we left, and then there was the whole drama where Cass left her new camcorder behind and we had to make lots of phone calls to the Lost & Found. It was recovered, thankfully, though not without some crabbiness on everyone's part. :D
And with that, the rest of the week wound down, with lounging by the pool and some Fourth of July celebrating.
Pollution makes for some interesting sunsets. Though the pic doesn't quite capture it, the sun was hot pink.
On the way back home, we stopped in San Francisco to visit our old buddy Alicia, who took us to lunch in Japantown, where we had okonimiyaki! And then later, we mocked me by posing all anime-cutesy. Good times.
One last sunset picture, taken on the long drive home.
singing I never meant to cause you trouble
I never meant to do you wrong
and I, if I ever caused you trouble
oh no I never meant to do you harm