And We're Back!!

Ryan and I were able to travel to San Diego over the holiday weekend, thanks to my Aunt and Uncle who gave us use of their time share as part of our wedding present.  Its funny because we have basically had this trip planned since right after we got married, since we needed to give them a heads up of where we wanted to go on the list of available places they gave us so they could make sure it was available.  So we have definitely been looking forward to this trip for almost 10 months! :)

We left Friday after noon and the drive was not bad at all,  by 6pm we were both getting hungry but we decided to just raid the grapes and crackers I had packed in the cooler and eat when we got to San Diego.  We always try to find restaurants we want to go to before we actually get there,  I know I have mentioned this before but we love to eat good food.   Well we looked up the Studio Diner which was featured on Triple D and since we both pretty much hadn't eaten all day we headed there with empty stomachs!   Unless something really pops out at us we normally try to order what was either featured on the show or what is the most popular and in this case we got both.  Ryan ordered the fish and chips and me the monte cristo

The food was huge,  I got through 1 1/2 of the sandwich wedges and Ryan got through a wedge of my sandwich and not even half of his fish.  But man it was good!  

Saturday we woke up early to make it to Sea World when the park opened.   I really thought with it being a holiday weekend it was going to be miserable,  but even though it was packed we arrived 30 minutes early for each show and got pretty good seats.  Sea World is very different now than when I was a kid,  they have like 5 shows now, including one that is pattered after a Cirque show in LV, it was interesting.  Unfortunately the lamest show was the Shamu show,  they do not let the trainers in the water with them whales anymore I guess do to a death a few years ago so now basically the whales swim around do a few jumps and splash water at the crowd.  It was a disappointment, obviously I do not want any trainers getting hurt or even killed but if that is going to be the signature show they need to re-vamp it somehow.

I think the Sea Lion and Dolphin show's were my favorite of the day,  all in all we had a great day and didn't leave the park until around 6:30-7pm.  We rented a movie went back to the hotel and I don't even think we made it through half before we were asleep!

Sunday we woke up early again (I know not very fun for vacation) we wanted to be to the Zoo when it opened.  I have to say the San Diego Zoo is my favorite zoo and if you have a chance to go there I would definitely recommend it.  We took the guided bus tour first which is about 35-40 minutes and it gives you the layout of the zoo.  When I was a kid and we used to go to the San Diego zoo they did not have a few things they have now,  like the Express Bus that you can hop on and off of OR the escalator's that take you up to the top of the zoo,  let me tell you what a difference those two things make.  The zoo is big and on a pretty steep hill so by the end of the day when I was a kid we were tired and would stand at the bottom of the hill and say "Do we really need to see ____?"  But now you still do plenty of walking but being able to hop on the bus at the giraffe and take it up the hill to the polar bears is amazing!

I think the polar bears were my favorite this time,  they were VERY active, we got to see them swim, eat and play with each other.  It was a great day and Ryan and I had so much fun.  We got to watch all the little kids be so excited to see the animals and we can't wait to go back to the zoo once we have a family.

Monday morning we woke up and got the timeshare ready for my cousin Alicia to come use it and then headed out to get some food before heading home.   After we finished breakfast we decided we weren't ready to go home yet, and since it was Memorial Day we headed down to the dock to tour the USS Midway Museum.   I had been there before with my friend Jaime, but this was Ryan's first time.  I think it is a cool museum showing what life above a naval aircraft carrier is like. There were a lot of veteran's there and we talked to at least 4-5 of them about the difference carrier's they flew.  It was very interesting and we even had flyover planes. It was funny because when I went with Jaime we are both very short and had no problems walking up and down any of the hallways or staircases, but Ryan being over 6ft had a different experience.  

SIDE NOTE: I left my camera at home today so there will be a part 2 of this post with all the pictures I didn't get to upload, including Ryan squeezing into one of the officers bunks,  looks cozy :)

Anyways,  we had a great trip.  We are two weeks away from our 10 month anniversary,  time is definitely flying by.   I am so grateful the the opportunities Ryan and I have had to travel in this first year of our marriage,  these are the times we will look back on in years to come and be glad that even though it hurts the pocketbook a little bit that we took the time out to enjoy ourselves and enjoy each other.  Everyday our marriage gets stronger and I know I made the best decision of my life marrying him.