BALBOA BOTANICAL GARDENS

After the Museum of Man we stopped by the botanical gardens in Balboa
Park. My favorite flower was there... and the largest specimen I've
ever seen at that. I ran out of space on the memory card in my camera
so I was left with nothing more than my iPhone camera.

BRAIN SURGERY

The Museum of Man at Balboa was a bit of a dud but one fascinating
fact I learned was that the Mayans eventually reached a 90% success
rate with skull surgery. I feel bad for all the warriors who helped
the doctors 'practice' while working their way up from their original
30% success rate.

BALBOA PARK

After Starbuck's it was off to Balboa Park. I was thrilled to see the
fountain since I had forgotten to shower - plus I had forgotten to
pack enough clean clothes so it gave me a chance to do laundry at the
same time.

THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL

We got Friday off to a great start at Starbuck's. A decaf latte,
croissant and yougurt with fresh fruit beat the granola and milk I've
been eating the previous days of our vacation.

HUNGRY DONNA

Donna got so hungry after wondering around Sea World all day that she
ended up chewing on her bottom lip. We wondered over to the beach
after our day at the amusement park. Yet another great day!

REALLY?

Have you ever shopped here? If you just answered yes, YOU HAVE TOO
MUCH MONEY! Get in touch with me and I'll give you a list of charities
where you can more productively spend that cash that's burning a hole
in your pocket. Better yet, just send that cash directly to me.

WE MET A CELEBRITY!

I personally met my first celebrity, face to face, since moving to the
Los Angeles area two years ago. Nope, not Mr. Ed, but rather the
Anheuser Busch Clydesdales!

WHAT A BIG MOUTH!

The shark jaw in the background is pretty impressive too! Imagine all
the yappin' those things could do! Sea World does offer an impressive
shark exhibit - there were a few small children visiting the exhibit
that I was tempted to feed to the sharks. Then I heard Sea World
frowns on that sort of thing.

FISH ARE FRIENDS

These guys apparently never saw Finding Nemo because they didn't seem
to think that 'fish are friends, not food'. We joked about how bad
they smelled but later wondered if they were grossed out by the aroma
coming from the pizza place next to their exhibit.

WHO IS WATCHING WHO

Donna made a new friend today. I've never seen a fish sit so still.
Whatever you do, don't say that last sentence real fast!

UNDERWATER CAMERA

I finally got an underwater camera housing and the folks at Sea World
were so impressed that they let me go swimming with the sharks. Great
shot, isn't it! Believe all that and I'll tell you another one.

FEEDING THE BAT RAYS

For $5 I got a tray of stinky fish that I could feed to slimy bat
rays. How could you not like anything with 'ray' in it's name?

SEA WORLD!

We made it to sea world this morning. The dolphins were our first stop
then it was off to the dolphin show. From here we're off to see Shamu.

GELATO TIME

What better way to cool off, after climbing a huge flight of stairs,
than with a gelato from the Gelateria.

JUST BEING US

Here's a snapshot of us on the beach in La Jolla. Notice, I have my
hat on - the one I climbed all the stairs for.

MEET THE HARBOR SEALS

We had a chance to get a sneak peak of Sea World's offerings while
strolling down the beach Wednesday afternoon. Harbor Seals, as cute
and funny as they are, stink to high heaven. We did our best to stay
up wind from them.

DAILY WORKOUT

La Jolla doesn't offer any steep singletrack but I got my workout for
the day going up and down these stairs. After realizing I had forgot
my hat and would burn to a crisp without it, it was back up the stairs
to the parking garage to get my hat, then back down to the beach again.

LA JOLLA CAVE

$4 each bought us admission to a cave in La Jolla. A cool site for
sure though climbing the stairs on the way back up was tiresome.