San Diego, Part 2... SeaWorld, Hotel del Coronado and Balboa Park

Saturday was another busy day in San Diego... starting with a morning at SeaWorld. I have fond memories of visiting SeaWorld as a kid so I was especially excited about this excursion. Like the zoo, it didn't disappoint.

A highlight of the morning included a very cool penguin exhibit that showed the above and underwater perspective. It was hard to get a good picture because of some condensation on the glass, but you get the idea.


I've always loved the occasional manatee sighting in Florida but had never seen them under water. They were beautiful and surprisingly playful - doing lots of spins right in front of the glass.


Annie enjoyed the live manatees, but was even happier with the manatee she could kiss outside the exhibit.


We ran into some playful dolphins too. They came right up to the glass to check us out...


And of course, the Shamu show was a highlight. Annie enjoyed it - but honestly probably had more fun waving to the people behind us and studying a screw on the bench we were sitting on for most of the show.


A little known fact about practical, mild-mannered Patrick is that he gets pretty excited about carnival games. I'd dare to say that SeaWorld's game area just may have been the highlight of the day for him!


Luckily, he's also pretty good at these games.... resulting in a happy Patrick, a VERY happy Annie, and a somewhat bewildered Cara as to how in the world we're going to get all these stuffed creatures home!


After SeaWorld, we headed to a little hole-in-the-wall taco place that one of Patrick's colleagues had recommended. There we had what may have been the best Mexican food I've ever had - at ridiculously cheap prices. I'm still thinking about these fish tacos (...so good that I took a picture. I've decided not to post the subsequent picture of Patrick rolling his eyes about the picture-taking). The tacos, by the way, were only $1.50 each!


Deciding to live on the edge and throw Annie's nap out the window, we then drove over the scenic Coronado bridge to the very pretty Coronado Island. We walked through and around the beautiful Hotel del Coronado, built in 1888, and spent some time enjoying the beach. We also enjoyed an exhibit of characters from Dr. Seuss books (turns out Theodor Geisel is from San Diego) and learned a little history behind several of the stories. I never knew that Green Eggs and Ham was the result of a $50 wager by Geisel's publisher that he could not write a book using only 50 different words.


Finally, we wrapped up the day with a visit to Balboa Park - where we especially enjoyed riding the one hundred year old carousel and the adorable little children's train.