Under the Sea
We (Linette, Brett, Gloria and Dick and I) went to Sea World San Antonio on Saturday. It was both great fun and quite the whip. Brett went bizerk-o. He loved it. Here's how the day went.
We didn't leave until about 9 or so. The usual things went against us, like we (Linette and I) were totally disorganized. But we got our stuff together, drove down to the park, and got there by about 10:15 in the morning.
We started out by going to the dolphin tank. There you can pet and feed the dolphins. Well, we didn't know what the program was. You're supposed to stand in line and get a ticket and then purchase some sardines or similar looking fish ($3 for 4 fish!). But when they run out of tickets, no more fish and you have to wait until the next feeding. Don't want no fat dophins, you know. Well, they ran out of fish before we were able to buy any. So, instead of feeding the dolphins, we went on to the shark tank/aquarium and saw sharks and eels and sea horses and Nemo and Dory.
By then it was almost 11:30, so we had lunch at The Oaks Café & Grill. It's always good to eat early at theme parks; by the time we left, at about 12:30, it was PACKED. (Menu: Fried and Sandwiches with Bad Salads!). While we were eating, Brett saw this little kiddie roller coaster outside of our window and asked about every thirty seconds if we could ride it. You had to be 38" tall to ride and Brett is 39"!!! So after lunch we went to ride The Shamu Express. It was, however, experiencing technical difficulties when we got there. So, we waited in line for quite a while. When we did ride it, it was a little more than a kiddie ride. We went around pretty quickly and up and down pretty quickly. I thought that Brett might not like it, but he LOVED IT.
After The Shamu Express, we went over to try to feed the Sea Lions. While Brett and I were waiting in line at The Shamu Express, Linette had scoped out the Sea Lions and they had told her that we could feed the animals any time that there wasn't a show. Well, we went over there, knowing that there wasn't a show, but there was no one selling those sardines (apparently dolphins and sea lions have simlar tastes; who knew?). Linette found an employee who said, oh, and by the way, the fish sellers were on an hour and a half lunch break! Woof!
So, we went to check out the Penguins; twice! I did not perform my infamous impression of a penguin going up stairs.
By that time we went to the 2:00 showing of Shamu! Before going in, we took a short break for ice cream and water/drinks. Brett LOVED the show. It was a pretty impressive show. We sat in the splash zones because it was hot and because getting hit with cold sea water didn't sound too bad. Luckily, however, we weren't hit because the other areas that were, well, they were drenched. That wouldn't have been too much fun for the rest of the day.
Then it was onto Viva! which is kind of a poor-man's Cirque du Soleil "O" It had divers, synchronized swimmers (we now know what they do in-between Olympics), dolphins, and beluga whales, and the requisite clown that ran the show. It was pretty good. By this time, Brett was not just watching the show, he was acting it out. When the dolphins would spin around, he would spin around. When the divers dove, he acted like he was diving. It was hilarious.
By this time, it was between 20 minutes and 15 minutes until 4, the next to last feeding of the dolphins at the dolphin tank. I got Brett into the stroller and we made a mad dash to the dolphin tank to stand in line for a ticket and my chance to purchase some sardines!!! We got there in more than plenty of time. When Linette, Gloria and Dick caught up with us, they took Brett to the tank, while I waited. After about twenty to thirty mintues of waiting, I finally got some fish and we took them over to the dolphins and Brett did very well feeding them. He kinda got a kick out of that too.
Well, notwithstanding the fact that we were RIGHT THERE by the Anheiser Bush Hospitality House (where customers over the age of 21 can sample over 32 different varieties of A-B beer and take part in a workshop on the making of beer), we didn't do that (Linette: Brett, tell Daddy, "Today is about ME, Daddy" Brett: Today is about ME, Daddy) (A-B owns Sea World), we went to feed the Sea Lions. This time we were about to buy some fish and throw it at them. Brett and I had a little communication problem: I was handing him the fish by the tail and he only wanted to hold it by the very tip of the tail; where I was holding it. I then begin handing him the fish by holding the body of the fish and letting him take the fish by the tail.
After that we headed over to the Steel Eel. But first, a little snack of some popcorn and a beverage and a little sit down. Then Dick and I rode the roller coaster. It was pretty good, but not the best. We then went over to the Great White. Dick and I rode that too! Now that's a roller coaster ride! (Gloria and Linette? Well . . . ) After that we were done, but for Gloria need to stop by the gift shop on the way out. Brett only had a tiny little melt down right as we were about to leave. Other than that, he was great.
Now, that was quite a day. But wait! There's more!
Because Gloria and Dick were in town, they needed to go over and see Gloria' s mom and dad there in San Antonio. So we drove up to their house. Gloria's brother met us at their house. Well, we we got there between 6:30 and 7, I would guess. We had a glass of wine and talked, all the while Brett was just jumping around being crazy because he was clearly crazy tired. Then we went to dinner. We wanted to go some place casual as we were in shorts and thongs and t-shirts, but we settled on something that was a little more upscale than that; a fairly nice chinese food restaurant, Taipei Gourmet. It was fairly near their house. Linette and I were dreading dinner, thinking that Brett was about to have a complete melt-down. But we got there and I immediately ordered him some rice and lemonade and he was just great. Others at our table were not, however.
I had the Mongolian Lamb and a cup of the Velvet Corn Egg Drop Soup. Linette had the General Tso's Chicken, and I don't remember what the others had. Anyway, mine was fine; fairly tasty, but everyone else (those that were talking, anyway) was less than impressed.
Gloria's dad said not more that 6 sentences at dinner and at least two of those were directed at me about the Belmont, which we had missed due to Sea World (Moses opined that it was a great race and that Afleet Alex's jockey rode the perfect race). We don't know exactly what burr was in his saddle but he was not a happy camper.
In any event, we didn't start eating until 8 and didn't leave until 9:15 or so. So, we didn't get home until about 10:40. I was whipped!
It was, on the whole, however, just a great time.
We didn't leave until about 9 or so. The usual things went against us, like we (Linette and I) were totally disorganized. But we got our stuff together, drove down to the park, and got there by about 10:15 in the morning.
We started out by going to the dolphin tank. There you can pet and feed the dolphins. Well, we didn't know what the program was. You're supposed to stand in line and get a ticket and then purchase some sardines or similar looking fish ($3 for 4 fish!). But when they run out of tickets, no more fish and you have to wait until the next feeding. Don't want no fat dophins, you know. Well, they ran out of fish before we were able to buy any. So, instead of feeding the dolphins, we went on to the shark tank/aquarium and saw sharks and eels and sea horses and Nemo and Dory.
By then it was almost 11:30, so we had lunch at The Oaks Café & Grill. It's always good to eat early at theme parks; by the time we left, at about 12:30, it was PACKED. (Menu: Fried and Sandwiches with Bad Salads!). While we were eating, Brett saw this little kiddie roller coaster outside of our window and asked about every thirty seconds if we could ride it. You had to be 38" tall to ride and Brett is 39"!!! So after lunch we went to ride The Shamu Express. It was, however, experiencing technical difficulties when we got there. So, we waited in line for quite a while. When we did ride it, it was a little more than a kiddie ride. We went around pretty quickly and up and down pretty quickly. I thought that Brett might not like it, but he LOVED IT.
After The Shamu Express, we went over to try to feed the Sea Lions. While Brett and I were waiting in line at The Shamu Express, Linette had scoped out the Sea Lions and they had told her that we could feed the animals any time that there wasn't a show. Well, we went over there, knowing that there wasn't a show, but there was no one selling those sardines (apparently dolphins and sea lions have simlar tastes; who knew?). Linette found an employee who said, oh, and by the way, the fish sellers were on an hour and a half lunch break! Woof!
So, we went to check out the Penguins; twice! I did not perform my infamous impression of a penguin going up stairs.
By that time we went to the 2:00 showing of Shamu! Before going in, we took a short break for ice cream and water/drinks. Brett LOVED the show. It was a pretty impressive show. We sat in the splash zones because it was hot and because getting hit with cold sea water didn't sound too bad. Luckily, however, we weren't hit because the other areas that were, well, they were drenched. That wouldn't have been too much fun for the rest of the day.
Then it was onto Viva! which is kind of a poor-man's Cirque du Soleil "O" It had divers, synchronized swimmers (we now know what they do in-between Olympics), dolphins, and beluga whales, and the requisite clown that ran the show. It was pretty good. By this time, Brett was not just watching the show, he was acting it out. When the dolphins would spin around, he would spin around. When the divers dove, he acted like he was diving. It was hilarious.
By this time, it was between 20 minutes and 15 minutes until 4, the next to last feeding of the dolphins at the dolphin tank. I got Brett into the stroller and we made a mad dash to the dolphin tank to stand in line for a ticket and my chance to purchase some sardines!!! We got there in more than plenty of time. When Linette, Gloria and Dick caught up with us, they took Brett to the tank, while I waited. After about twenty to thirty mintues of waiting, I finally got some fish and we took them over to the dolphins and Brett did very well feeding them. He kinda got a kick out of that too.
Well, notwithstanding the fact that we were RIGHT THERE by the Anheiser Bush Hospitality House (where customers over the age of 21 can sample over 32 different varieties of A-B beer and take part in a workshop on the making of beer), we didn't do that (Linette: Brett, tell Daddy, "Today is about ME, Daddy" Brett: Today is about ME, Daddy) (A-B owns Sea World), we went to feed the Sea Lions. This time we were about to buy some fish and throw it at them. Brett and I had a little communication problem: I was handing him the fish by the tail and he only wanted to hold it by the very tip of the tail; where I was holding it. I then begin handing him the fish by holding the body of the fish and letting him take the fish by the tail.
After that we headed over to the Steel Eel. But first, a little snack of some popcorn and a beverage and a little sit down. Then Dick and I rode the roller coaster. It was pretty good, but not the best. We then went over to the Great White. Dick and I rode that too! Now that's a roller coaster ride! (Gloria and Linette? Well . . . ) After that we were done, but for Gloria need to stop by the gift shop on the way out. Brett only had a tiny little melt down right as we were about to leave. Other than that, he was great.
Now, that was quite a day. But wait! There's more!
Because Gloria and Dick were in town, they needed to go over and see Gloria' s mom and dad there in San Antonio. So we drove up to their house. Gloria's brother met us at their house. Well, we we got there between 6:30 and 7, I would guess. We had a glass of wine and talked, all the while Brett was just jumping around being crazy because he was clearly crazy tired. Then we went to dinner. We wanted to go some place casual as we were in shorts and thongs and t-shirts, but we settled on something that was a little more upscale than that; a fairly nice chinese food restaurant, Taipei Gourmet. It was fairly near their house. Linette and I were dreading dinner, thinking that Brett was about to have a complete melt-down. But we got there and I immediately ordered him some rice and lemonade and he was just great. Others at our table were not, however.
I had the Mongolian Lamb and a cup of the Velvet Corn Egg Drop Soup. Linette had the General Tso's Chicken, and I don't remember what the others had. Anyway, mine was fine; fairly tasty, but everyone else (those that were talking, anyway) was less than impressed.
Gloria's dad said not more that 6 sentences at dinner and at least two of those were directed at me about the Belmont, which we had missed due to Sea World (Moses opined that it was a great race and that Afleet Alex's jockey rode the perfect race). We don't know exactly what burr was in his saddle but he was not a happy camper.
In any event, we didn't start eating until 8 and didn't leave until 9:15 or so. So, we didn't get home until about 10:40. I was whipped!
It was, on the whole, however, just a great time.
posted by Michael Smith at 4:38 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home