Sea World San Antonio

In deference to my friend, Charlie, who reads this blog and is also terrified of whales this post begins with an official warning that:

THERE WILL BE PICTURES OF THOSE ABOMINABLE CREATURES CONTAINED IN THIS POST!

Those photos will be placed after photos of turtles, alligators, and dolphins.  So that Charlie may be able to read at least part of this post without being subjected to the terror those animals bring.

So, let's start by saying that the weather really cooperated.  It was about 80 degrees with basically no humidity so perfect for a day outside.  T3 and I had also purchased tickets online before leaving so we were able to bypass the ticket lines and almost immediately enter the park.  While T3 got their kids sunscreened up and maps distributed I ran over to Guest Services so they could upgrade my pass to a Fun Card.  Sea World offers Fun Cards for the same price as a regular admission and with it you get free admission for the rest of the current season.  However, they were having a promotion where if you buy a Fun Card now you get the rest of the 2012 season PLUS all of the 2013 season for the price of regular admission.  Basically, I have the ability to get into Sea World for free until January 2014.  T4 - I am looking at YOU to make this worth my while.

This is a shoulder season for Sea World so they are only open Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and their Friday schedule is a bit light.  The upside of our visit was that it wasn't very crowded, but the light schedule made it feel like we weren't busy with stuff all day long.  This may seem like a good thing, but it was a lot of standing around.

We had decided to skip the first Clyde and Seamore show of the day, figuring that since it was the first show in the entire park that it would be crowded!  Instead we walked around a bit and ended up at Alligator Alley.

Ha!  Those aren't Alligators!

I love that the turtles treat the alligators like logs.

After Alligator Alley we made our way over to the seal and sea lion exhibit that was near the show theatre,

Consulting their maps

Nate feeding the sea lion

Please sir, could I have some more?

The nubbins doing their impersonations.

There were six sea lion pups in the exhibit and they were adorable.





I'm King of the Hill


I said, "I'M King of the Hill!"




Mom & pups


Some one threw a fish to the Mom, but she missed it.  The pup found it (but is still nursing), and just didn't quite know what to do with it.

After the sea lion/seal exhibit we went to wait for the theatre to open for the Clyde and Seamore show.  We waited, and waited, and waited, and finally they announced the show was being cancelled due to technical difficulties.  /sigh.  So we walked over to Dolphin Cove.

Sea World doesn't have a dedicated dolphin show; I don't know if Sea World generally doesn't have them anymore or if this is unique to Sea World San Antonio, but it made me a little sad.  We got to Dolphin Cove just as a feeding session was ending, and Nate was bummed that we missed it.  He totally would've forked out the $6 for the little tray of fish so the nubbins could feed dolphins.  He's a sucker for those kids, for sure.

Even with the feeding ended we hung around a bit and watched a bit of the dolphin training and play session.



Got your eek!


This dolphin's mom (who was also in the pool) and grandma (who may have been in the pool) were also raised at Sea World.





The guest wrangler kept having to remind people that the only safe position around the pool is to be flat on your stomach - sitting, kneeling, and standing on the edge is very dangerous.  I think it is amazing how so many people still do not realize that despite being ADORABLE dolphins are aggressive and can seriously injure (and/or totally humiliate) you.

We still had time to kill before the next show so we decided to take the kids through the little "trick or treat" area.  The kids sure had a good time.

I love that Ryker props his sunglasses on his forehead when he doesn't need them, and Kita hates sunglasses, but loves hats.  She forgot a hat and borrowed this one from me.




Kita told us it was her "dream come true" to get her picture taken with a mermaid.


Ryker ... not so much, although he did love to have his picture taken.





After the trick or treating we found the Azul theatre.  It was finally time for the first show of the day.  This show combines several animals in the show including beluga whales, dolphins (not bottlenose), and parrots.














And the beluga:

There were also divers that did some good tricks, and birds that flew over the crowd.  I hate bird shows I'm always concerned that they will poop all over me.

One thing I noticed, and again, I'm not sure if it is the Sea World organization in general or Sea World San Antonio in particular, but all the shows were all "trick" oriented.  When I've visited Sea World San Diego the daytime shows were primarily educational with the tricks used to demonstrate the educational value derived from them.  It also may be that during the limited opening hours or show season they don't focus quite so much on that aspect of their operations.

We made it to the next Clyde and Seamore shore (Halloween themed, natch), and Kita LOVED it, Ryker not so much.  It was about this time that he started complaining that he just wanted to see Orcas (they were featured on Octonauts (Creature Report!  Creature Report!) and we had been stressing that he would get to see them.  However, Kita was exactly the right age group to truly appreciate the sea lion/otter show.  Again, unlike San Diego there were sea lions and an otter, but no walrus in this show.

We ate lunch (which was totally reasonably priced - except the beverages - especially for a theme park), and then had a while to kill before attending the 4:30 Shamu show.















Baby SHAMU!


Even though he'd been looking forward to the Shamu show all day, Ryker didn't care for it...he thought it was too loud, and I agree they had the bass cranked waaaay up.

We did a little more wandering around, took the kids to the play area (where they discovered the carousel and kids' roller coaster the Shamu Express.  As it turns out Shamu Express was their favorite part of Sea World.  Even Ryker ended up meeting the height requirement (by one long hair on his head) and poor Nate ended up riding it about 10 times over the course of the day.   Like I said, he's a sucker for those kids.

We did go back to the evening showing of the Clyde and Seamore show and this time both kids LOVED it. I didn't take pictures either time, but Ryker got so into it the second time.  There was a cue (thunder) where the audience was supposed to laugh all evil-like (Mwah-hahahahaha) and Ryker totally participated.  It was endearing, for sure.

The worst part was that the night Shamu show wasn't scheduled until 9:30 p.m. which gave us approximately 4 hours between shows.  Ryker was DONE and just wanted to do home.  We did talk him into going to see the penguins (marginal, and stinky, but with a moving sidewalk), but after that he was tired, hungry, and wanted to go back to the hotel.  We had determined to stick it out and after another round on Shamu Express the kids bought stuffed Orcas (over their allotted budget, but their dad bought them anyway ... SUCKER!), and we waited outside Shamu Stadium.  Nate bought the kids pretzels and popcorn for dinner. I knew T3 loved popcorn, but nothing drives the point home like seeing the kids shove handfuls of popcorn into their mouths.  It was pretty funny.

Finally, FINALLY it was time for the Shamu night show.  AKA the BEST SHOW in the whole Sea World repertoire.  Ryker crashed before it even started poor, tired, nubbin.  It was Halloween themed with Jack the Pumpkin-head being all menacing and scary (I assume he would've been redeemed at the end of the show, BUT ... ) the leader of the orca pod decided to boycott the show.  The first two acts went off just fine.  There were lights, there were leaps...




There were trainers in skeleton wetsuits, and then there was Shamu.  Who simply swam around the pool and finally beached on one of the slide outs and just stopped.




One of the trainers finally came out and said that because Orcas are matriarchal, and Sea World only uses positive reinforcement, and these animals sometimes have minds of their own, and she being the dominant female controlled the actions of the entire pod, well ... let's just give her a few minutes and see if she decides to participate in the show.

She sat on that slide out for about 5-7 minutes (during which time almost everyone on that side of the stadium ran down to get a real close-up photo).  After a few minutes of the photos, she turned away from the crowd, but stayed put on the slide out.  And then finally slipped back into the pool where she continued to just circle around, ignoring the attempts of the staff to get her to Just. Come. Here. Please.

Finally, the supervisor trainer cancelled the show and sent us on our way.  A little disappointing end to the evening, but it was also hilarious and something I won't forget.  

5 Things

Holy Cow!  It has been forever since I did a 5 Things post ... remember when I used to do them every Tuesday?  I should totally bring that back, right?  Anyway -

1. It is amazing how many things can go missing in a move.  I couldn't find my Patriarchal Blessing anywhere after I moved, despite being absolutely sure that I wouldn't have thrown it away.  I ordered a copy, and it arrived.  And like most things of this nature, I found the original today.  In a very safe, albeit different place than I would've imagined it would be.
2. I have also lost my Social Security card.  I can tell you exactly where it sat for months and months and months in Philly, but here ... it has quite simply disappeared.
3. Ryker informed me that I will be accompanying T3 on their trip to San Antonio this month.  It was pretty darn adorable and just made my heart melt into a puddle of awwwwww.  I'm going to cross a couple of places on the list while I am there. (Fair warning to Charlie - I will be going to Sea World; I will try and remember to include a proper warning before posting pictures of those most evil of sea creatures.)
4. I am really missing autumn.  I miss the crisp air in the morning, the little bit of chilliness in the air, the leaves changing colors, and long sleeves.  I do not however, miss the dread that settles in my bones that "Winter is Coming".
5. I officially registered my car in Texas.  The best part is that I didn't go those horrible, ugly license plates.  Now, I just need to get a Lonestar Driver License

Bonus: /sigh  I really, really need to start looking for a job, but I just don't want to. :-P

5 in 5

In the last five years I've lived in five apartments - this is the latest, located in College Station, Texas.

First off, this is almost everything that was packed in my trunk and backseat on the drive from PA to TX:


These pictures don't even take into account the fact that Cortney was riding shotgun and had a GIANT suitcase in the backseat.  It also doesn't show the 2 camp chairs and the blanket that got cut at the Kentucky Derby.  There are also a couple of bags and the air mattress/bag in the closet.



The secret is lots of small boxes of different shapes and sizes so you have options when you are loading.  Even still, I threw away a few boxes before picking Cort up at the airport.  I was definitely worried that she and her (giant) bag wouldn't fit.


The rental market in College Station is crazy.  Everything here revolves around TAMU and Blinn.  That means that there is basically no "on demand" rental market.  Everything is pre-leased around the school year and landlords take advantage of the college student mentality.  Every rental I saw was based either around grad students living alone or undergrads packing 3 or more roommates into a house.  It also means that a lot of the pre-move in cleaning is substandard to what a "regular" renter would expect.  That said, after several months of looking, I did finally find a suitable apartment.  Unfortunately it was inhabited be stinky Asians before me.  So stinky, in fact, that the landlord volunteered to repaint and carpet (virtually unheard of in CS rentals) and the smell still lingers.  Don't worry I bought air fresheners.

Ironically, my apartment is in the same complex that my aunt and uncle lived in fifteen years ago.  Fifteen years ago when I first moved away from home and to College Station.  See, even then I had the itch to get the heck out of Utah.  That time around it didn't work out to well, and part of me thinks I've ended up back here to try and exorcise some of those demons.  I remain unconvinced that College Station will be a long term home for me (it really is just a small town - and I'm more of a city girl), but it'll do for now.

From the front door:







Living and dining rooms


KiLee photo-bombing before photo-bombing was a thing.  I really love this photo, though.


The picture in the blue frame is my favorite picture of the nubbins, ever!


Side table (with zebra striped scissors)


The box is from an ex, the pitcher belonged to my Grandma, and the turtle is from a roommate.


Kane gave me this pig for Christmas.  I love it!


Chicken-pecker toy that I bought from a Russian festival.  Also purchased at the Russian festival?  Kvas, which KiLee made the whole family try ...  ICK!


The plastic box in the middle contains roses from my Grandparents' graves.  I am happily surprised that they've managed to survive all my many moves in tact.


The shell box my parents gave me after a cruise, the stacking doll I bought in Sitka (or somewhere in Alaska), and the thimble I've had for ages ... a coworker gave it to me after a trip to DC.


The living room from the dining room.


The kitchen/laundry room.   The white garbage cans are where my aunt used to keep those giant tubs of laundry detergent and it was the time-out place for her youngest son.  It was also where the threat of being grounded with chores was issued.


Laundry nook


Little hall between kitchen/laundry and hallway with 1st bedroom door.


Hallway - just past the double door (closet) is where the other little kitchen hallway is.


First bedroom on right


Guest bathroom - it still  needs to be cleaned (see reference to subpar cleaning done by landlord).  I'm not that big on guests so I haven't really worried about it so far.  By the way, if you come to visit there is no place for you to sit.  I believe this photo tour will bear that out.


Top of the hallway: second bedroom on right, master straight ahead, and weird nook to the left.


Second bedroom - I decided to buy a real bed after sleeping on the air mattress for one night.  It turned out to be a good thing because my trusty air mattress had sprung a leak, obviously.


Weird nook


Master bedroom


The closet is actually a good sized walk-in, although none of the doorways in the this place would be ADA compliant. They are all pretty narrow.


Master bathroom

I made a lot of cuts before moving from Utah to Pennsylvania and even more when leaving Pennsylvania to Texas (some of them hard and some of them not-so-much), and looking around I've identified even more cuts that will be made next time I move.

I have to also say a huge THANK YOU to the College Station LDS 3rd Ward because those guys rocked. I've never asked a ward to help with a move and I was extremely worried about having enough people show up, but show up they did and had me completely unloaded in less than half an hour. The guy that showed up first was baffled when he couldn't see the truck.  When I pointed out the 1 relocube that needed to be unpacked he was astounded and commented on how most Mormon moves come with three strikes 1)Food storage, 2) a piano, and 3) I can't remember, but really wish I could... I think it had to do with kids or bunk beds or something.  Anyhow, many of the guys commented on how quick and easy my move was, but I really, really appreciate them taking the time and effort to come help out.  THANK YOU!

And with that I am officially an Aggie (but not one that believes in giggin' anything)!

Four Corners

While not on The List, Four Corners is something that I definitely wanted to see.  Even though I had heard people say it wasn't that impressive the idea of standing in four states at the same time has always appealed to me.  Maybe it was all that Utah history in 4th Grade.

So, while in Colorado at Mesa Verde I took the time to drive out to the Four Corners.


It isn't really much to look at, it is just a ticket booth, a pavilion with Navaja crafts stalls set up all around it and a medallion on the ground.  But still...


There is a small plaque inside the larger seal that I am standing on.  I wasn't about to get down on hands and knees for the photo op although a lot of people did.











I bought some bracelets for my nieces from a little Navajo grandma, but the best part was clearly having real, authentic:



Oh my word - it was so good!  (Even if it was made in the sketchiest little trailer I've ever seen.)

1000 Places

I've met some new people and given them the URL for this blog, but if you're looking for my travel blog

CLICK HERE

and there will be new posts every few days for the next month or so as I recount my recent trip through the American Southwest.  Non 1,000 Places posts will be showing up in the next few days.  :)