san diego vacation
Just arrived home from a trip to San Diego, where we enjoyed a bit of time off for spring break. We stayed at the Paradise Point resort. We didn't really know what to expect. All we knew was that we wanted to enjoy cocktails on the beach. We never really made it to the beach, as it turned out, but we did enjoy cocktails in the jacuzzi after lazing around in the pool all afternoon. :)
Our experience at the hotel was mixed. On the one hand, there was plenty of relaxing: the grounds are beautiful, the pool is a perfect 70 degrees, the bartenders are really good (best whiskey sour ever?), there was free croquet, we could order virtually anything to our room, and there were lots of kids there for Aria to watch.
On the other hand, everything there is *really* expensive. Like, twelve bucks for a drink - and if you get it in your room, wha-? Is that really 35 bucks for two drinks? Yup, because they add a 20% gratuity AND a delivery fee AND you are expected to tip the guy on top of that.
The other main beef is that the hotel is in the flight path of San Diego airport so it is pretty noisy there... and the first room they put us in was ten feet from where they were bulldozing a new pool. I'll give them credit on that one, though - we complained, and they upgraded us to a much nicer room for free.
It took us a couple days to get used to being at a resort. We didn't even go to the pool until the third day. Silly mistake. It was at the pool when we finally relaxed, stopped fighting it, and embraced the experience. Then Hosie got a massage as a birthday present to herself. The masseuse turned out to be a semi-pro cyclist named Matt who had a ten-year-old grudge against Levi Leipheimer. Go figure.
We did take two outings that were really fun: Sea World and the San Diego Zoo. Both of them were fantastic.
First was Sea World. We went twice, one in the late morning and once in the early evening. The first time we went in we made some mistakes. We brought way too much stuff, and went too close to Aria's naptime. After we stood in all the lines, rented a stroller, and got a locker, we had barely enough time to watch the killer whale show before we had to leave. The killer whales were awesome, though. The trainers stood up on their backs, hugged them, and even held on while one jumped out of the water. (whoa.)
When we came back, we went through lots of their different aquariums, then eventually arrived at the shark tank. I took a short video, but unfortunately it is pretty dim in there, so it came out pretty dark. You can still see some of the sharks though.
You can see that they don't do a whole lot to discourage you from being afraid of sharks, what with the creepy music, dim lighting, etc.
On the last day of our trip we went to the San Diego Zoo, which is world renowned for a good reason. It is truly an amazing place. The size, breadth, and planning of their exhibits is unparalleled.
We saw polar bears...
A 6,000 pound rhino...
Elephants...
Lions...
A bearded pig (which looks to me like a cross between a pig and a Schnauzer)...
Orangutans...
Tapirs...
...and my favorite, a pregnant hippo (the most dangerous animal in Africa, we are told).
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