San Diego Trip part 2

So, the San Diego trip continues...

After several hours at the zoo, we felt like we had seen enough animals and headed back to the homestead located in the "gated community" where my parents live. But first I posed with an elephant. I'm the shorter one.







We also decided to start a side business of taking pictures for people posing in front of the San Diego Zoo sign. We got really good at it and had people referring our services to the people standing in line waiting for a chance at the sign. We eventually got our own taken. It was well worth the wait. And the tips.

That evening, Mom and Dad insisted that we go to In N Out Burger for dinner. We said, "Ok, but just this once."

It's something about those fries and the shakes. And with the burger - on top of it all...it just is beautiful. It makes you want to cry it's so beautiful!. Sniff. Yeah, I can't explain it.

Afterwards, it was an evening with the "Batsons" - well, with the Doug and Ann Batson family...we crashed their place to hang with the boys, Jake and Kyle and take silly pictures. They LOVE that when I come into town!!

Kyle, our football player, was cleaning his helmet. Not missing a great opportunity, Kyle and I took another picture together. Please excuse the "zoo bangs."






Then for some crazy reason, Doug, Kyle's dad and my big brother, decided to put the helmet on. This was the result:
Silly big brother...








Sunday was Dad's 68th birthday so we had a little celebration. Sarah made her family's famous chocolate cake (without eggs) and we decorated it just beautifully...ok, mom didn't have a big "8" so we make-shifted with 8 regular candles. But I thought the lovely balloons we got from a "bought" cake - probably back in 2001 - really pulled the cake decoration all together. Dad did a great job at blowing out the upside down 9 and the 8 single candles. Good job dad!!





Here is Sarah and my other big brother, Mike goofing off at the birthday party...







Here's Stefani, and Mom watching Dad open some gifts. Entrancing...









So, my present for dad was a new hat (at mom's suggestion). He lost the last one...As you can see, he looks quite dapper!! Yeah, I think he liked my gift best...but don't tell the siblings....









My sister, Stefani is a master seemstress and every Halloween she comes up with the BEST costumes!! I've been Princess Leia ("Help me Obe Wan Kenobe, you're my only hope!!") and Batgirl. Last year she was Supergirl, so this year for Halloween I got to be Supergirl! Here I am trying it out and posing with Mike.




The next morning Sarah and I had to go back to reality...yep, we returned to Salt Lake City. Because we booked separately, we didn't have the same flight back. Sarah was the unlucky one and had to return first. But before we went to the airport we took another look at the waterfront of Downtown San Diego to get a nice, brisk walk in as well as check out some of the artwork along the boardwalk. This particular artpiece was also a huge kaleidoscope. Here is Sarah checking it out....


My turn to return to SLC came a few hours later, but before we left, Mom and Dad took me to lunch at Seaport Village. We had some good fish and chips and a double chocolate chocolate chip cookie for dessert. Fantastic combination!!!

Then we did a little shopping...Mom did a HORRIBLE thing and left her earrings at home that day. She was practically naked!! I was rather embarrassed that mom would forget such a thing!!! She only wears clip earrings so finding earrings is a little tough these days. But in one of the great silver shops, we found the PERFECT earrings to match her necklace and to cover her nakedness. Here she is showing them off:








After that, Mom and Dad dropped me off at the airport and sent me on my merry way back to the land of cold. It's always sad but the good news is that I return for Thanksgiving in just a few weeks. And that is ALWAYS a happy thought!

Until next time...

San Diego Trip part 1

The purpose of the trip was to see one of my short guys, Kyle play JV football. Also, it was Dad's birthday. So it was a great excuse to run away from Utah and soak in the humidity and warm weather of Sunny San Diego!

My good buddy, Sarah Ward, decided she had to escape Utah for the UEA weekend, so she came along for the ride.

We got off the plane Friday morning and my mom and dad came to pick us up. The weather was delightfully at 72 degrees. Dad did the tour of the waterfront for Sarah before getting back to mom & dad's house. Did you know that San Diego had a Bob Hope Memorial? Yeah, me neither!! I got a picture or two with Bob. He said some really funny jokes for me, Sarah and the folks, too. I've always loved that Bob!!

After we saw some of the sights, Dad & Mom took us to IHOP. There we had some crepes. I forgot to take a picture of it before I ate it. Sorry. Just try to imagine some bacon, eggs over easy, hashbrowns with ketchup and some FABULOUS apple crepes. I had to remove the nuts off the top but I survived.






That afternoon we went to Kyle's football game. He and his team made a great effort against a bigger and tougher team. I was really proud of my short guy! Of course, he's well over 6 feet tall. So he's not really that short anymore...He's number 52...

The family had a good time sitting in the stands with some ants while cheering Kyle on! It was fun to see him playing football!



Sarah took the time to catch up on some reading - she's not much of a football watcher. We also got to check out her foot. Some of you may have known that she had bunion surgery over the summer. Things are healing well. And she now has one sexy scar!!

Here is Jake- the younger shorter guy who is just millimeters from becoming taller than me - and me enjoying ourselves at the football game. Isn't he handsome??? Well, he's ALSO athletic, really smart - and HILARIOUS!! Yeah, he totally takes after me...







That night, the parents continued to show me and Sarah a good time. They took me and Sarah to Old Town where they have some great Mexican restaurants. We went to the El Fandango - it's like we were south of the border - without all the dead bodies laying around. (you can read more about the "problems" of Tijuana here.) I had some great tacos! They also had a Mariachi band playing for the customers. Dad asked them to play the most romantic song from Mexico and they sang, Perfidia which actually was a song that Sarah's dad used to sing to her family all the time. It was really cool, because she was just talking about that song before they played it. It's like we were all on the same wavelength! We were "one" with the Mariachi band! Not an easy thing to do with the language barriers...







The next morning, Sarah and I headed to the San Diego temple for an endowment session. The San Diego Temple is the best temple in the whole wide world! But I might be a little biased. People have called it a cross between Cinderella's castle and Dracula's castle. It's kinda cool. We thought we were going to the Spanish session but we missed it and had to do a English session so we didn't get to play with the headphones. Bummer....

After a great session at the temple, we went the San Diego Zoo. Mom and dad belong to the Zoological Society so they had some free tickets. How cool is that?

So we visited the Zoo....

I made Sarah take a picture in front of the flamingos because...well, it's tradition at the San Diego Zoo! Every time you go, you HAVE to take a picture in front of the flamingos...because it's the first animal enclosure in the park. And you can't mess with tradition!! Doesn't Sarah look natural with those flamingos? No really! They are back there...they are the pink things with sticks for legs.






Sarah insisted that I take a picture as well but this time with the giraffes. It's a new tradition.









We also saw our first solar powered trash compactor there at the San Diego Zoo. What will the world think of next!! Solar powered cars??? Oh wait...







The San Diego Zoo is famous for the Koalas -not Koala bears, they are marsupials, don't make that fatal error. We were lucky enough to see some of them eating. Apparently they sleep 20 to 22 hours a day because all they eat is eucalyptus leaves. They are picky eaters...MUCH picker than me!! I only require 8 hours of sleep...



Then we saw the half zebra better known as the half zebra. Ok, you got me! I don't remember what the heck this thing is called. I remember being very impressed by this animal though, so I thought I'd throw it onto the blog...







Then we ran across a Stroller enclosure. They are NOT an endangered species. They in fact thrive greatly in the wild as well as in captivity. Strollers. One amazing animal...









So each of the animal enclosures include a sign saying whether the animal was endangered or not. That way you would know how much trouble you were in if you actually ran one over with your car...or something like that. We both laughed at the "vulnerable" status. Why? I guess we both feel vulnerable lately. Wouldn't it be cool if we could carry around signs that give our status? Like "officially endangered" - that would be we are teetering over the edge and we'd need extra understanding by those around us. Those "not endangered" would be totally confident and riding high on life...or something like that.

Now, the polar bears were hard to find. Why? Because they hide them in the back of the park!! On our way there we even did an evil thing and walked down the "bus road" by accident. So the Zoo police came after us and escorted us to the "proper path." All in the search of polar bears! Here's the evidence that we did indeed find the polar bears. (polars really are bears and ARE NOT marsupials, just in case you wondered.)


After we found the polar bears at the end of the park, we found that we were pooped. So we paid the $3 a piece and flew across in the skyfari and back to the other side of the zoo. It was well with it.




Here is a shot of Balboa park from the skyfari with a plane going by...yeah, you can't plan this sort of shot...serendipity, baby!!