Friday, February 16, 2007

Mom and Dad's Visit: Friday



My father loves Starbucks coffee. I'm not using this in loose terms like "I love Hawaiian pizza" which generally would suggest that it's my favorite type, but I'll eat other kinds. No, I mean he LOVES Starbucks coffee. He has moved from "a regular coffee with a little cream and sugar" kind of guy to a "dark roast, full caffeine, no sugar, no cream" kind of guy. I'm pretty sure if you hooked up an IV of Starbucks "Verona" coffee he'd fly to the moon and back on the caffeine in this coffee and come back asking for more. It's crazy. Let me also add that Dad took pictures of the two Starbucks we visited so he could start a collection of Starbucks photos. And just to top off his "need for speed" coffee addiction: the hotel he and mum stayed at serves Starbucks "Verona" coffee in their hotel restaurant.

So, our first mission on Friday morning was to get Dad to a Starbucks. So on our way to Sea World (our Friday adventure) we hit the Starbucks across the street from our apartment. Mum had green tea (size medium, not grande... you gotta love this woman: she doesn't even know the right names for sizes at Starbucks!), Alan and I had our standard grande-white-chocolate-mocha-two-pump-peppermint-with-whip-extra-hot lattes. Dad had "a coffee; venti!" We scrambled down our various breakfasts (most of which are poor imitations of Tim Horton's general goodies: bagels, scones, donuts, the like) and were off for our first visit of 2007 to Sea World: my favorite place in San Diego.
The main goal of the day was to pet a walrus, adore some seals, be awed by a polar bear and last but not least, get kissed by a 4000lb Beluga whale named Ferdinand. Yep! I went for round two of the Sea World "Arctic Experience". So far, since it's inception in November of 2006, I'm the only repeat customer.
So this time the Walrus got a huge gob of snot on me, and kissed my hand which closely resembles a 15 year old trying to give his girlfriend her first hickey. We met the entire Harbor and Ring Seal population of Sea World (3 of which are mum, dad and baby) and played with two amazing Belugas: Ferdinand and Ruby. Ruby, who used to work with the U.S. Navy, carries with her a world record for one of the deepest dives ever completed by a Beluga. Pretty nifty!

After our visit with the Beluga's we showered and were off for more whirlwind adventures with other creatures. We played with the Bat Rays, learned about Sharks from James (who we later learned was kind of stalking us through the park), fed the Bottlenose Dolphins, saw Shamu's new show "Believe" which is pretty weak in showmanship but takes the cake for "touchy feely" emotional type of stuff, and admired the underwater ballerina-esque feats of the Manatees. By 3pm we were pretty worn out. From here we headed back to the apartment to change clothes and were off to Cozymel's for some Mexican-inspired cuisine. Mum learned that poblano peppers are a lot hotter (spicier) than we would have thought. Some margaritas were drunk, some beers were imbibed, and 2 hours later we were once again sated with food, and completely exhausted. Thank goodness we didn't have any big plans for Saturday... yet...

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