We left on June 27th, Pierscen's 6 month birthday. We got up early that morning to make sure everything was ready and to take Dodger to the kennel. We were lucky to find a place that would take him considering it was also the 4th of July weekend. I hadn't thought of that considering the the 4th of July was actually in the middle of the upcoming week. It was Dodger's first time at a kennel and I felt pretty bad about it, but the place we found was nice and I knew he would be okay. He would feel betrayed, definitely, but he would be okay.
The Casper airport is tiny, but at least we have one! Just one big room with a couple of gates. Pierscen was tired, but well behaved. I filled a bottle with water before we got on the plane, but I couldn't find warm water. He is quite picky with temperature but I had hopes that it would work. We got on the plane and I thought about asking the flight attendant for warm water right then, but decided against it. Why, I will never know.
Pierscen was perfectly happy... until take off. He started crying, so I mixed the bottle for him. He took a few swallows and I thought it would be okay, but it only lasted a minute or two. Then the realization of cold water hit him and it was all over. As soon as the seat belt light turned off, the attendant rushed to us and filled up a bottle with warm water. Problem solved!
Ryan was actually across the aisle from us and over a seat, but the man next to him offered to switch. Ryan actually scheduled his trip well before we got the okay from the surgeons to fly, so this little flight from Casper to Denver (about 45 min) was the only flight we took together.
It's so frustrating how much stress goes into flying with a child. The reality is that you know most people are sympathetic to flying with kids, but it's impossible to not worry about what other people are thinking. Especially when the baby does cry. Thank goodness that little melt down on the first flight was the only one. It still wasn't easy. He doesn't like falling asleep in my arms, so it was really difficult to get him to nap on the plane. Once asleep he would only nap for about 30 minutes, but he was still wonderfully good natured.
We beat Ryan to San Diego by a couple of hours. Originally I thought that we would just head off to the zoo and meet up with Ryan at the hotel later, but they sent our luggage with me instead of Ryan and I didn't know what to do with it. I would have just gone to the hotel and dropped off the stuff, but I didn't know if they would let me. Technically the name was under Ryan and I didn't even know if they knew I was coming. Hate to throw a wrench in that one!
So we waited. And walked. And walked. And walked. Aaaaaaaaaaanndddddd walked... It was a perfect day outside. Temperature was in the 70's. A blessed relief from the high 90's in Casper.
At one point I put our suitcase up against the fence so I wouldn't have to drag it behind me (the handle is broken and it is NOT very suitable to dragging behind oneself while pushing a stroller with the other hand). I was never very far from it, but I noticed several people giving it questionable looks and that whole message you hear announced over the intercom ten billion times at airports about never leaving your luggage unattended or reporting suspicious luggage to the authorities kept coming back to me. I decided I better retrieve it and put the other travelers at ease.
At long last Ryan arrived and we grabbed a taxi together back to the hotel. He had called the hotel to let them know I was coming, so if we needed to come and go at separate times during our stay, we wouldn't have an issue.
We stayed at the Omni. It was absolutely gorgeous. And way above what we would have gotten for ourselves if we had had to book our stay. It was awesome.
We opted to stay in that evening. There was a great fish 'n' chips place right by the hotel that we wanted to try out. Ryan suggested sharing, but I was starving and not in a sharing mood. We should have shared. It was WAY good, but WAY too much.
We weren't sure what we were going to do with Pierscen that night. The bed was a king and plenty big enough for the three of us, but I don't sleep if Pierscen is in the bed. Besides, he rolls and moves a lot in his sleep. We thought about putting him on the floor, but that seemed a little unfair. My mom suggested calling room service and see if they had a portable crib. So I gave it a shot, called the desk, and to our delight, they did! It was delivered to the room a short while later. Thanks mom!
The next morning, Ryan headed off to his conference and Pierscen and I took a taxi to the San Diego Zoo. I have never been and was SUPER excited! I know Pierscen won't remember any of it, but that's why he is free. I wasn't going for him anyway. I was going for my own kid self. :)
The zoo is amazing! And gorgeous! And HUGE! Plan on getting a workout. There was an employee there that I ran into twice (on opposite ends of the park ironically) giving people directions. Both times he asked me where I was headed, and both times, it ended up being a long, strenuous hike upwards. The second time he just laughed and said I must really like going up hill. It sure appears that way!
Baby flamingo! I don't think I knew that they came out grey. Well, I think part of my brain knew that. Either way, it was cute to see one so small.
Apparently hands are far more fascinating than monkeys. :)
I love this smile. Simple. Sweet. And a tad bit mischievous.
All that walking worn the little bug out. He was a great little zoo buddy. I would love to go again some day. Next time preferably with Ryan.
We headed back to the hotel mid-afternoon. Pierscen was exhausted, but we decided to go and test out the pool.
This was Pierscen's first time swimming. I bought his little swim outfit specifically for this trip. The water was a great temperature, but since the sun had disappeared behind the hotel, there was a little breeze that made it a little on the cold side.
I don't think he minded being wrapped up in a nice big towel at all. :)
Pierscen and I headed back upstairs to the room. I gave him a bath in the sink and let him hang out a bit before taking a nap. Sweet little guy.
Later that night we went grocery shopping for snacks and stuff for sandwiches so we wouldn't have to spend so much money every meal.
The next morning our destination was Sea World! Luckily for us, Ryan's conference in the morning was just vendor stuff, so he decided to join us for a few hours. I was really excited about that. Sea World is one of my favorite places on earth. I would take Sea World any day over Disney Land. And the prices are much more reasonable too. :)
Pierscen was totally fascinated by the dolphins and we had a very difficult time getting him to turn around for pictures. That's alright. I loved watching him watch the animals. Even at such a young age they learn so much.
Pierscen watching one of the many "Shamu"s.
Pulling daddy's hair at the Shamu show.
One of the things Ryan really wanted to do in the couple of hours he had was feed the sting rays. It is such a fun experience. I have fed them before, both in settings like this and while scuba diving, but it never gets old. They are amazing creatures. Velvety to the touch, beautiful and lyrical in their movements, and yet still a tad bit frightening. There were a couple baby sting rays in the enclosure too. I tried to feed one, but was unsuccessful. Ryan, however, succeeded where I did not. He wasted no time rubbing that one in. ;)
We also got to feed the flamingos. I don't envy those birds after watching them try to eat. It looked way to complicated with those long, curved beaks going after the tiny pellets of food. It was fun though.
I think the Sea Lion show was my favorite. The cast was hilarious and those sea lions are incredibly talented! And they even had a little otter that preformed a few tricks. Cute little thing.
Giant pickle! Yum! Yum!
We also got to feed the sea lions. That was a lot of fun. This guy pictured below knew how to work the crowd. He would moan and groan for attention. It sure worked. I think he got more fish than anyone! A few would do little tricks or try and jump up near the glass. On one attempt, Ryan tossed this guy a fish. However, the place is surrounded by these white birds (I forgot what they are called) that are super aggressive. Only moments after the fish left Ryan's hand, one such bird swooped down and snatched it from the air. At this point, the robbed sea lion began to scream. I don't know how else to describe it. He went from a groan to a yell. Almost like a child throwing a temper tantrum. It was pretty funny.
Shortly after this, we ate our packed peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and snacks and then Ryan had to head back to the conference.
Penguins. (Not the Antarctica kind. Those were in a dark indoor enclosure with a moving walkway. No flash photography.)
Beluga whales.
They had a shark exhibit, but Ryan didn't want to go through that one. So we went after he left. It was AMAZING! It was one of those where you can see the fish and sharks from above, but then you go down underneath and go through one of those underwater tubes. SO cool!!! Pierscen was actually asleep in my arms until we reached the tube at which point he woke up and looked around in complete awe and fascination. It was so neat to watch him, wide-eyed and amazed. I think it's safe to say that he liked it!
We actually met a couple as we were standing in line that went to BYU. We immediately struck up a conversation and chatted all the way through. They actually met in high school in California and she waited for him on his mission. It was fun to meet another rare and few couple that work out. As we were leaving, the girl mentioned something to the effect that she had a feeling (before we started talking) that I was LDS. "You know, that little something about a person where you can just tell," she said. Yes, I do know. It's hard to explain it, but it is very real. It's a spirit. An aura. A way of being, certainly. They were a super nice couple. I think that's one of the amazing things about being members of the church. No matter where you go, the church and the people are the same. It is wonderful and reassuring.
This picture was at the Blue Horizon show. It featured dolphins, pilot whales, acrobatics and exotic birds. It was really cool! Of course Pierscen fell asleep. What can you do? Actually, I am so grateful I bought that hat for him. Every time he needed to sleep, I just put it over his face to shut out the light and off he'd go.
Before we headed back to the hotel, we stopped at the Shamu tank and watched them swim around. I took advantage of the employee that gives little Orca lessons every so often and asked her lots of questions. They have 6 Ocras there at the facility. I asked about the dorsal fin flopping - cause I imagine most people have heard or been taught that it is because of captivity that it bends. In fact, that's not true. It's often a genetic thing. And primarily males. A lot of it has to due with the fact that they can get extremely large, and since they are just made of cartilage, there is no bone structure to hold them upright.
We noticed that a few of them kept swimming upside down at the bottom of the tank. I asked if that was a little trick they learned or what the purpose was. The answer? They are just scratching their heads. Hahaha. Smart creatures! She said, in fact, one of the girls in there spends more time swimming upside down than she does right-side up. Who knew?
That afternoon when I got back, we decided that we would take the vouchers Ryan had received for a few select places to eat and go use them at The Marina, a fancy restaurant in the Marriott. We are not fancy restaurant types. But you know, if you have a coupon, and you are on vacation... why not? We had a difficult time decided what to order since it was all fancy jargon. We finally felt it would be safe to go with a fried chicken dish (for me) and a steak for Ryan. Seems simple enough. Right?
Wrong. My chicken was tasteless. I didn't know that was even possible. The green stuff they served with it (I don't even remember what it was) was slimy and gross. It came with some dipping sauce (I assume) (though I don't if it was for the chicken or green stuff) and it was nasty too! Of course, of course... I know it's all taste specific. I am sure other people love it. But it was nasty.
And Ryan's? Nasty! How is it possible for a steak to be nasty?! And what's worse, they served it with the bone. As in, it was cut in half and served with the bone marrow all jelly like. (Shudder). And it was served with a blood gravy. (Gag). Apparently I could never be a food critic or work for Bizarre Foods. As Ryan said, "It's sad when the best part of your meal is the rabbit food." And it was true. His meal came with green beans that were good.
We left feeling sick. And poor. Never again. We are sticking to our poor people places to eat from now on. So what did we do? We went and got cheesy bread sticks from The Old Spaghetti Factory. (That's not what they are called. In fact, if you ask for them like that, they won't know what you are talking about. Personally I think most people would, but the lady that Ryan ordered from didn't.)
"Can we get an order of cheesy bread sticks to go?"
"We don't have cheesy bread sticks."
"Well do you have something that look like bread sticks?"
"Yes. Sicilian Garlic Cheese Bread."
"Yeah, that's what we would like." Haha.
Saturday morning, I had one day left on my 3-day hopper pass, so we opted to head back to Sea World. It was WAY busier than it had been the day before, thanks to the weekend, so I decided we probably wouldn't stay long. There was one or two extra shows I wanted to see, but mostly I wanted to go back to the shark exhibit with Ryan's iPod to record it. Once I explained to Ryan how awesome it was, he was really bummed he didn't go. He was under the impression that it was a snorkel with the sharks sort of thing. Pierscen loved it.
I really do love Sea World. And the zoo. It was spectacular.
Saturday night we went back to The Old Spaghetti Factory for dinner. SO much better than The Marina. What an awful experience! Haha.
Downtown San Diego was pretty cool. And apparently it's the place for bachelorette parties. While we were at The Old Spaghetti Factory we saw at least 6 bridal groups go by. Possibly more. We also inadvertently "saw" BNL perform live. They closed down a good chunk of the downtown area for some party and they had BNL performing. Of course we weren't actually invited to said party, but we did stand outside and listen to them. They sound exactly like they do on their recordings. It's was pretty cool.
Ryan's flight for home left early Sunday morning, so we headed off to the airport together. That gave Pierscen and I about two hours after he left to do laps around the terminal - which was surprisingly small. However, I learned from the first flight to always ask for hot water as soon as we board, so even though the waiting was boring, the flight(s) was/were not bad. We had a four hour layover in Denver. Luckily we got there in time to meet up with Ryan before his flight took off. We overlapped by about 45 minutes. After he left, Pierscen and I just walked up and down the terminal. Unlike San Diego, the Denver air port is huge and is basically one giant hallway. So it made our wanderings a lot easier. Thankfully the time passed a lot quicker than I had anticipated.
The last flight was by far the best. As we were getting seated, I had several people offer to help me. (There were lots of kind people throughout this adventure - especially with helping me get my stroller and car seat put together getting off the plane each time.) But the last flight was awesome. Several people around me kept telling me not to worry about what other people think because most people have been through it before and are totally sympathetic. Those that haven't, well, they simply have no room to talk. I was just relieved that Pierscen did so well. And he really did. As we were getting ready to take off on that last flight, he started getting fussy, so the lady next to me helped me mix his bottle. Just before we got it in his mouth, he actually started crying, but as the bottle hit his lips he made that CHOMP noise as he latched on and went to town. Everyone busted up laughing. "That's what he wanted, alright!" Several people commented. He was a gem for the rest of the flight and I was able to talk to the lady next to me who has lived in Casper for a long, long time. It was a really enjoyable trip.
Pierscen and I arrived around 8 pm. We weren't able to pick Dodger up until the following morning because pick up was between 3-5 and Ryan's flight didn't get in until just before 5pm. He was sure happy to see us the next morning though! He didn't eat much the first night, but he survived. And he still loves us.
The trip was amazing. I really hope that someday we can go back and take our kids when they are old enough to remember.
FUN!! Loved all the pictures. (I have to be honest...I didn't read it all! Ha! Hey...back off...It's 9:00...well past my bedtime.) Looked like a super fun trip. :)
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