so, we saved the best for last! the plan was sea world till we dropped -- turned out to be 7 hours.
never a fan of theme parks myself, sea world was no different. for the most part, i could take it or leave it. that said, two things were particularly neat. touching and feeding the stingrays was about as nifty as it advertised - they are soft, and the genuinely seem like they want to interact with people. second, the beluga whales are absolutely beautiful. just gorgeous. they are officially my favorite marine animal.
we also squeezed in a visit with the fadden's, and once all said and done, matthew and i were officially exhausted.
so, today we left our cushy, easy-going pace in north county, and traded up for some urban, high-brow activities. well ... as urban as san diego gets, and as high-brow as a 4 year old can put up with.
we headed to balboa park with every intention of hitting 3-4 museums. we got to 2. hey, you always gotta aim high, yes?
and after 5 hours of thoroughly discovering the reuben h. fleet science center and the san diego natural history museum (accompanied by nathan colkitt), matthew and i met up with the depena's for a little r&r.
so after a long day of driving, we took things easy. breakfast rooftop, beach time, lunch listening to the sitar player, and a healthy nap.
when it came to fireworks, however, it was a different story. one of the very reasons we camped up in carlsbad was because oceanside usually has fireworks. but they were canceled this year, so matthew and i had to seek them out elsewhere.
lucky, kevin phillips and was up in long beach with his crew, and matthew and i made the trip up there to hang out with them. so, while you will notice there are no pictures of fireworks, it's because i didn't actually get to see any. but matthew did, and that is the important part.
overall, it was a super relaxed day, and we needed it.
driving on the road is easily one of my favorite things to do. especially when it's the road less traveled. i've always done it by myself, but this time, matthew did it with me. it was excellent.
i think most people would think taking a 4 year old on an 11 hour road trip into the middle of goodness-knows where would be ... the wrong thing to do ... but i'm here to say he did it like it was genetics at play.
without going into the details and history of route 66, i'll say this -- it's infinitely more interesting than traveling on the interstate. and the 4 year old agrees. during our trip we encountered crazy storms, shady outhouses, awesome burgers, and haunted houses. what more could you ask for?
and the finale was also most excellent -- destination beach -- including a homey bed and breakfast with down feather-beds. sa-weet! at certain points i was almost misty-eyed. almost. here is the overview:
here is a photo set from matthew:
and just for fun, here is a panoramic montage of the storm we were running from:
road warrior! THE most fun to be had with a full tank and a big 'ol bag of dorritos (although i'm one for 'combos'). i drove to winslow this summer - desert, history, questionable food - one of the best experiences ever!
safe trippin'.
i love mathew's hook photo! i see budding existential agony. someone get this kid a camera ;)
looks like fun!
so, i'm making an iron-clad commitment to take photos of this trip -- and here is the first set. i think the photos can do most of the talking, but as you can see, the kids got along like gangbusters! it was great to hang out in flag -- the weather was perfect!
