Well, Jeff has been after me for a few days now to get on here and tell you about the rest of our San Diego trip. I guess he figures that if he has to go back to work, I can write a couple of paragraphs :)

So, Monday we arrived in San Diego, and Tuesday we went to the zoo. Wednesday was Sea World day. This was our favorite place. We ended up seeing the Shamu show, dolphin show, and sea otter/seal show. We always sat in the soak zone so that we could see, but ended up picking good seats---we never got more than a splash. It sounds like that would be sad, but it was kind of a cool day. Some of our favorite things to see other than the shows were the shark exhibit, the dolphin exhibit, arctic animals exhibit, and the rides.

The shark exhibit was great--you got to go through a tunnel with the sharks swimming all around you. It was a really neat way to see them. I was surprised at how big some of the sharks were. We have a short video clip, but I don't know how to upload it, maybe Jeff can do that later...

The dolphin exhibit was really fun because you are right up next to them. If you were brave enough, you could pet and feed them. I wasn't brave enough. Jeff tried to touch one, but there were a couple of people next to him that had food--that was apparently more exciting than just getting touched--I know, hard to imagine!

The arctic animal exhibit was fun as well. We went on the simulated helicopter ride to get in to see the animals. I was a little leery of it, there were signs all over the place saying if you get motion sick, don't get on. For those who don't know this fancy little tid bit about me, I get motion sick VERY easily. In fact, I have all my life, hence the nickname Baby Barf-a-lot. Anyway, it was the first place we stopped and I figured I could deal with it. Ha! I ended up having to close my eyes for most of it and concentrate really hard on not loosing my breakfast. It was a good thing that the beluga whales, polar bears, and giant walrus were really cool to see :)

Jeff was dying to go on the couple of rides that Sea World sports, so after letting my stomach settle for several hours, I finally consented. The first ride we went on was on a big inner tube rafting down a little river. It was OK, mostly for the kids to get wet in. We also went on their Atlantis ride. Another interesting tid bit about me, I don't like to be scared out of my wits. So, I don't enjoy really scary movies, and I have to talk myself into roller coasters. Atlantis is a series of small coasters. The worst part for me was the initial incline, you get to the top and think that you are going to drop, but then you don't. You go around a corner and then drop. So, I had been preparing myself for the drop and thenthere wasn't a drop...just as I was getting comfortable we hit the drop. I don't know if Jeff will take me on another roller coaster any time soon! Jeff thought it was great though. I will admit that now that I know I can live through it, I might have enjoyed myself too.

On Thursday we ended up back at the zoo. We hadn't been able to see everything on Tuesday because Jeff wasn't feeling well. (Luckily we got it taken care of!) We ended up being able to take the Skyfari to get to part of the zoo we hadn't seen. I thought it was great! It created a nice breeze--it was a lot warmer that day than it had been on others. It was a really fun way to see some of the zoo, and also some of the city. We got to see some cool animals that day too. We saw the hippo, a bunch of gorillas, the giraffes again (they are Jeff's favorite!), and the polar bears because they were right at exit of the Skyfari. Somehow it still took most of the day to see the last bit of the zoo, in fact, we ended up walking about 5 miles everyday we went out.

Friday was our anniversary and it found us at the Wild Animal Park. It is run by the San Diego Zoo, but is about 35 miles further inland. They pride themselves on having really big enclosures. The park is huge. We did the African Safari, I have to say I was highly disappointed not to have the official safari hat on when we went. The zoo has a tour that takes you to see the different habitats of Africa and the animals that live in them. It was a guided tour, and was really interesting. It was neat to see some of the animals up close, and to see some that were basically extinct. My favorite part of that tour was seeing the Norther White Rhino. The WAP has two and another zoo has 6, but they don't think there are any in the wild. I am always amazed at how big some of those animals are! After the tour we got a closer look at some cheetahs, lions and both African and Asian elephants. There were a couple of baby elephants, both born in the last year. They were so cute! They seemed so tiny next to the adults, pretty ironic since they were over 200 pounds when they were born :) We got to see an elephant training show, which was interesting. I always think things like that are interesting. At Utah State I had to take a behavior modification class where we trained rats to do stuff. I like to pretend like I know what the trainers are doing :) We also went on the balloon ride in the park. It was a helium filled balloon that was tethered. It was pretty exciting! The only other things around the park were a couple of wineries, which made for a breathtaking view.

Even though we were able to do lots of cool things at the WAP, I think this was our least favorite place. Mostly because the enclosures were so big. I am sure that it is great for the animals, but it makes seeing them a lot harder. We hiked about half a mile to the tiger area, and then you couldn't see them. Kind of disappointing. But, that's life I guess.

Since it was our anniversary, we went out for a nice dinner. We decided to try a place I had read about in a magazine, the article listed the top ten steakhouses in the nation. We happened to be really close to one of them, so off we went after getting cleaned up. I have to say that we both had a heart attack when we opened the menus. The first thing I saw was $270...luckily it turned out to be the caviar. It was a really nice little restaurant, very cozy. The food was excellent as well. (This picture is us back at the hotel after dinner) Sadly, we got lost on the way home. It took us about 10 minutes to get there and then an hour to get back after dinner! Someone didn't bring their GPS unit to make sure they knew where they were going, and wouldn't stop for directions... On the bright side, we got to see the airport, and some of the bays around down town.

Saturday found us sleeping in and packing. I was sad to have to go back to normal life. In fact, I tried to get Jeff to turn around and go back for one more night, but he missed the 105 temperatures of Mesa too much to be persuaded. We got back into town around 6 pm and have been catching up on things ever since. Our primary class was crazy--too much Father's Day candy or something. I am still working on getting the laundry done. It seems like we use so much more while on vacation! (We even ended up having to drive over to the beehive clothing to buy some garments while in San Diego! Jeff forgot the camera though, so we don't have any pictures...) I did get the shower room cleaned out again. It filled with stuff when we cleaned the add on room...funny how that happens! Speaking of laundry...the dryer just beeped. Off I go!