Sea World and Little Italy

Sea World was on the agenda today.  I had read online that it is best to set your schedule according to the shows and feedings, so shortly after we arrived we made an agenda of the things we wanted to see.  Sea World is expensive- $70 per person, plus $14 to park.  After seeing how much Sea World contributes to conservation (and how much whales eat), we felt okay about paying this.  It's funny, both Sea World and the zoo have disclaimers to tell people who are against animals in captivity that they shouldn't visit the park (ya think?).  I don't really get this.  I LOVE animals.  I'm certainly not for anyone holding an animal in captivity- whether it's a dolphin or a housecat- if they do not treat it well.  But both Sea World and the zoo not only treat their animals extremely well, they also participate in so many research and conservation efforts that allow many more animals to survive.  Not only that, but they allow people to interact with animals in a way that they wouldn't otherwise get the chance to.  Especially with kids, this can trigger behaviors that are good for animals and good for the Earth. Over 6,000 animals live at San Diego Sea World, including 200 endangered species.

Oh, I think I have found my true calling in life.  I'm pretty sure when we get back home I'm going to quit my cubicle job and start applying to be a dolphin trainer.

The seals/sea lions were soooo funny.  You could buy fish to feed them for a few bucks.  They went absolutely berserk when someone had fish.  Some would bark excessively, some would sort of whine, and one of them made the most annoying, high pitched scream each and every time.  You also had to watch for sea gulls- they would try to steal the fish!

They had a really cheesy but fun sea lion show.  Here they're doing the tango as if they were on Dancing With the Seals.

They didn't have a big dolphin show today, but we did get to see a few tricks and a feeding.

And we even got to pet them!

They have a pretty interesting penguin exhibit.  There are only 3 places in the world that have Emperor penguins in captivity- San Diego Sea World, and places in China and Japan.  I love the little penguin waddle.

Warm weather penguins

A white beluga whale:

Of course, the stars of the show are the killer whales.  It is truly amazing to see a nearly 5,000 pound mammal  jump out of the water and do a flip.  They are beautiful creatures.  Mark made us sit in the splash zone; he didn't think they could or would splash 15 rows up.  They could.  And they did.  And it was cold.

After Sea World, we headed downtown to Little Italy.  San Diego has the largest Little Italy on the west coast.  We ate at a place called Boun Appetito.  It was good, very good.  We shared a pear salad.  I got lasagna and Mark got gnocci in pesto sauce. While pregnant you are not supposed to eat goat cheese (or any soft cheese), and I must say that is one of the most difficult restrictions for me.  I didn't get the dish I really wanted because of the goat cheese (and because I already had some this week).  It's a sacrifice I'm happy to make, but I'll be really glad when I can eat goat cheese again!

We then met our friend Todd for a drink.  Todd is from San Diego but went to college at Missouri to play football.  We met him in our business fraternity.  We haven't talked to him for years, but got in touch with him when we planned this trip.  Todd is a super nice guy and we had a great time catching up with him!

That's it.  Tomorrow we fly home.  The week had flown by and we're not quite ready to leave.  Our flight leaves at 2 PST and we arrive at midnight CST.  Not sure what we're going to do in the morning.  We looked into doing a brunch cruise, but there isn't much on a Thursday morning.  Our hotel has free rental bikes so we may enjoy a ride before we leave.  

Until next time...