Fun with Family

Sorry that I haven't blogged in two weeks.  I know it is hard to keep my dedicated blog readership when I blog infrequently like that, but life and laziness occasionally get in my way.  I know everyone can relate.  The good news is, I have something fun planned for the blog that is theme related.  Not photography related , but still kind of fun and it will keep me writing, even if just a little.  So, expect a blog post EVERY DAY in October.  Yay!

With that being said, what have I been up to?  Well, a few days after my last blog post, Jess and I went down to San Diego for a few days with her Mom's side of the family.  5 years ago, when her grandma turned 75, she took all of us on a week long cruise.  Fast forward 5 years later, her grandma rented out a beach house in San Diego for a week to celebrate her 80th.  As Jess couldn't afford the time off for the whole week, we just went from Wednesday until Saturday.  A good time was still had, even in just half a week.


We started by flying into San Diego bright and early on Wednesday morning.  We flew in, dropped off our bags at the beach house, and then went to the world famous Sea World.  I thought it was pretty cool, but maybe slightly overrated, especially for the price.  Don't get me wrong, it is pretty cool, but we just went to Six Flags Discovery Kingdom and it has basically the same kinds of shows, plus roller coasters and is still cheaper.  Still, it was a good time and I got some pretty good pictures.  Here a just a few...







The next day, we went to the USS Midway.  I had never been on an aircraft carrier, and man, they are mammoth!  They really are like self-contained floating cities!







That night we went to a nice, fancy restaurant on the beach.  I had a few drinks and was feeling pretty good, so I was easily convinced to walk on the freezing beach, even though any water colder than spa water is too cold for me.  I stepped in, but because I was wearing pants, tipsy, and had already been splashed by Jessica's cousin, I stripped the pants off and walked in pretty deep in my boxer shorts.  Somehow, I survived not only the cold water, but the walk back to the beach house in my current state of dress.

Friday, we went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park (or some name similar to that).  It was pretty cool, but I actually thought it would be a little different than what I was expecting.  It was more zoo-like than safari-like as I had expected.  Still, looking at exotic animals is always cool.








Friday night, we went out with a couple of my OTD buddies to a place called Hodad's.  One article calls it one of the best five burger joints in the country and Guy Fieri named it the best burger he had ever eaten.  Knowing how much I love burgers, you know I enjoyed the hell out of it, and embarrassingly enough, I couldn't finish my burger.  So sad...

 
Saturday, our last day, we went to old town San Diego which was awesome.  We went to an old home called the Whaley House which is rated as the number one most haunted place in America!  We didn't see any ghosts, thankfully, but it was still pretty cool. 






We had lunch with giant margaritas....



Saw a cool little show....


...and then we were on our way back to reality!  What a fun trip!

Want to see the whole set in a slideshow?  It is kind of long at 140 something pictures, but it's cool, I swear!