Life's a Beach

Pearl of wisdom for you - Hotwire and Priceline totally work when booking hotels. I've tried them for plane tickets and you never really get a good deal (I've got to find out the reason why plane tickets are more expensive at the last minute while it's the opposite with hotel rooms. It was in some economics book I read a couple of months ago), but we found a really sweet room at the Extended Stay America near LAX for $42 a night.

The San Diego leg was over and the LA beaches were next on the agenda. Venice beach was up first where I recaptured my childhood by building a sand castle.



I was actually going for the Taj Mahal, but I couldn't remember what it looked like. Plus I didn't have a pail to carry water, so the architectural integrity of the structure suffered. Plus it's my first sand castle in 17 years. Give me a break!

The promenade at Santa Monica beach was a lot of fun. It took a whole lot of will power to keep myself from buying this



I watched the fishermen for a while, trying to pick up some tips for flounder fishing for when I go to Philly in two weeks. I've learned that the expert fishermen catch their own bait and prefer live sardines to catch white sea bass. Ooh, another tip - if you want to get free tickets to watch live tv shows, there's a cart that gives them out on the Santa Monica pier. I managed to pick some up for The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. They also give them away at the ticket booth in Universal Studios. We're heading there tomorrow so I'm going to try and score some Leno tickets. He's funnier.

We stayed for the sunset



and then met up with Julie to grab some dinner at Toi's on Sunset Blvd. Definitely an interesting thai place with a freaky ambiance. Tattooed and pierced waiters definitely scream Welcome to LA.

I'm a Believer

Day 3 of the roadtrip saw me wake up all excited because we were going to Sea World! It took some effort to drag Sumit out of bed, but we did manage to make it to the park by around 11. The thing to know about Sea World is that where other parks have rides and sights, Sea World has shows, so you can't really control the pace at which you see things. That being said, it's nowhere near as big as Magic Kingdom and it's totally possible to catch all the shows and most of the animals in around 5 hours. You may however, want to stick around because they do have some night shows that are pretty entertaining. Shamu Rocks has to be seen to be believed.

We started off with the Dolphin Show. Now we sat in the first 10 rows which are supposed to be the soak zone. I thought the soak was a misnomer. We were far enough from the tank for any dolphin landing to barely splash us. They ought to call it the sprinkle zone right? Not so much. They don't tell you that they train the dolphins to swim to the edge of the tank and scoop water on you with their tails! You end up getting totally drenched with salt water. But it's loads of fun, especially when you need to keep ducking and covering up the camcorder with a jacket to protect it. The price of keeping a rental camcorder dry was my walking around on a windy evening with a wet jacket. But more to the point, who knew dolphins could jump so high?



The sea lion show was next. It featured crew members Clyde and Seamore trying to rescue their captain, a gigantic walrus, of the USS Motley (Motley Crew...get it?). Kinda funny, but could have been better.



The next show was the piece de resistance - the Believe show featuring superstar whale Shamu. FYI Shamu's not really any single whale. He's played by a bunch of different whales in three parks around the country. I'm not really sure who it is they refer to when they talk about Shamu. Be that as it may, this show was definitely awesome. Really great visual effects combine with some truly ridiculous leaps to deliver a spectacle like none other. Plus, Shamu manages to outdo the dolphins by splashing water 20 rows back.







For some reason I was craving fish sticks for lunch. Unfortunately they didn't have any so I had to make do with some baby back ribs. I've got to say that Sea World definitely has reasonable prices for their food, as theme parks go. Disney'll totally gouge your wallet, but Sea World and the Zoo had food cheaper than you would find at a baseball game.



The shark tank was definitely way cool. You get to walk through a tunnel and have these beasts swim right by you.



Speaking of beasts, who knew that Clydesdales were so gargantuan? They completely tower over you. No wonder that little donkey didn't stand a chance.



We rounded off the night with Shamu Rocks which will totally knock your socks off. Unfortunately this is the only picture I could manage, what with it being dark and all.



All in all, a really fun and full day. We didn't entertain any thoughts of going out that night. Both of us fell asleep the moment our heads hit the pillow.

San Diego's a Gas

San Diego by far has the nicest nightlife area that I've been to. Philly's Olde City has charm but not so much class. New York swings the other way. The Gaslamp Quarter in downtown San Diego manages to combine these two qualities with a young crowd to make it a fun place to be. It was rather surprising though to see a college dominated club scene feature so many clubs with $20 cover charges. I also managed to catch my first club fight with one guy even swinging a metal trash can at the other guy's head. But of course any night needs to start with dinner.



Day 2 was about exploring San Diego's seaside, so off we headed to La Jolla, a seaside town north of downtown San Diego. Talk about picturesque, a walk along La Jolla Cove brings you face to face with steep cliffs, rock pools, ladies with dogs, white sand, flowers in bloom, and of course crystal blue water. But, as they say about a thousand words...







And of course the best part is that I finally got to wear my Hawaii shirt!!!



And for the ladies out there planning weddings, you may want to consider this



The Famous Five aren't the only ones who can clamber around in caves during high tide waiting for smugglers to come in. I found me one too.



And before leaving La Jolla, everyone's got to catch the sea lions that bask out by Children's Pool Park.