Month: August 2012

After a tiring day at the zoo it was time for a tiring day at Legoland! It was probably even more tiring because there was a lot of walking round a very big park and it was very hot – much hotter than the day before.

We got up early-ish and set off up the I-5, north of San Diego towards Carlsbad which is almost half way up to Los Angeles. We did debate whether we should stay on the I-5 for a few hours (quite a few hours) and drive all the way up to Seattle! Strange to think you can get on the I-5 in Seattle and stay on one road and it will take you all the way to the Mexican border (and the infamous zonkeys!).

Once we had bought our tickets for Legoland we were off! First stop a photo of two boys next to a fat tourist – must be American!

After that, we almost managed to get past a shop, although Harry did just pop in to get his photo taken with a lego Harry Potter and Hagrid. We wanted Toby in the photo too but he was too scared to stand next to them – not sure why, big whoosey!

Our first ride of the day was on something that I cannot remember the name of! Basically you got in a lego rocket type thing and then you had to pedal your way round a short course. The track was up in the air so we got a nice view over the top of the park.

After this it was down to the Legoland driving test center. Harry passed his test at the UK Legoland but now they needed to try driving in the US. There were two circuits to learn to drive on – one for under 6’s and one for over 6’s. The younger version looked a bit too basic for Toby so we told him that he had to tell a little white lie and say he was 6 if/when he was asked. He said that was ok – and it was only a fib by about 3 weeks so not too bad – and it has to be said that when the official asked how old he was the answer “six” tripped off his tongue without so much as an after thought!

The selected their cars and then after some simple instructions they were off! They managed to stay on the correct side of the road, the stopped at the traffic lights and they obeyed the stop signs! It was a very impressive driving display from both and at the end of it they both passed their tests and got their Legoland driving licence!

From cars to helicopters! We left the driving track and got straight into some helicopters. These were much easier to fly – it was up, down and around – simple!

Harry and Toby then posed with another of the characters around the park. Harry particularly liked this one and gave him an affectionate rub of his tummy!

After some lunch and a few rides on Lego pirate ships (which Toby refused to go on, dissolving into a mix of tears and tantrums) and some normal Lego boats, Tracy, Harry and Toby went on a water squirting pirate ship. Basically you get in a boat, go round on a track while people on other boats squirt you and people standing around the edge of the ride squirt them.

As you can see they got quite a soaking but then the sun was hot and they soon dried out. After a brief stop for ice-creams, the boys went round a track on a lego horse and then they found their rightful home:

Shame we don’t have one of these at home – they’d probably spend a lot of time in it!

After a brief walk round some Lego cities, including, New York, Las Vegas and San Francisco (including the crookedest street and the sea lions) we went on one last boat ride and then set off back to the car via a brief visit to a shop.

So there we go, Legoland, done! Another fun day in San Diego and it was all wrapped up with another couple of hours in/by the pool and then an absolutely fabulous mexican meal down in old town San Diego.

It’s a tough old life!

For all the photo’s, including the view from our hotel balcony, check these out!

With so many parks to go to in San Diego, it was tricky deciding which ones to go to. On Saturday morning we decided we should visit San Diego zoo because it is a world famous zoo. I’m not 100% sure why it is famous but it is and having spent the day there I have to say it is definitely a very impressive zoo!

Once we parked up and bought our tickets the first thing to think about was breakfast! Having checked out the flamingos we bought two chocolate muffins and two apple and cinnamon. Considering it was zoo/park food they were very nice and the same can be said about the burgers we had for lunch later!

After demolishing the muffins we set off along the monkey trail. The good thing about the zoo if that there is no set way to go round the zoo – you follow trails and they lead you all over the place. There were all sorts of colorful, bare bottomed monkeys about and some with very long arms, there were also some very human like gorillas. Their feet and hands are just like humans but they are also the most incredibly muscular things – I wouldn’t like to mess with one!

After the monkeys we saw a few eagles including the Andes condor:

This eagle is pretty impressive, mainly for its soaring ability. Apparently it can 100 miles without flapping its wings.

After the eagles we saw zebras, something that looked like it was half zebra, half pygmy giraffe, and polar bears – who must have felt slightly out of place in the heat of San Diego. Then we took in a 15 minute Ice-Age movie in 4d which basically meant we got covered in water, bubbles, snow and other concoctions.

Once the movie had finished we onto the Skyfari which was a cable car ride across the top of the zoo. Toby wasn’t overly keen on going on this but we ignored him and went on it anyway – unbeknown to us he was to have his revenge the following day at Legoland when he refused to go on a ride!

The Skyfari took us to the other side of the zoo where we tucked into some lovely burgers and hot dogs. The it was back across on the Skyfari and Toby was a little more relaxed about it this time.

When we were back on the ground it was time to check out the elephants and jaguars. The jaguar was my favourite animal of the day – he’d look lovely stuffed in the house! Only kidding! He did look mighty impressive though and another animal I wouldn’t want to meet in the jungle – not that I often find myself there.

Just by the elephants I saw some proper wildlife and managed to snap another eagle. I’ve no idea what it was but it was clearly taunting the other eagles by flying around over the top of them:

By this time it was starting to get very hot and we had been walking for a fair old way. So we took in a quick look at the pandas, checked out the meerkats and then we did Toby’s favourite thing of the day. Instead of walking up a hill by the road and steps route we took an escalator! Of all the animals he saw, the 4d movie and a cable car ride the true highlight was an escalator – nothing is wasted on him!

After checking out the shops because Toby wanted to get a cuddly toy – no idea why or where he will put it – we got back in the car and went back to the hotel. After all the walking and the heat there was only one thing to do – hit the pool! Harry and Toby demonstrated their range of swimming and diving skills and after a couple of hours there it was back to the room.

What an exhausting day! We only just had enough energy to walk down to the restaurant and get something to eat before retiring to bed and some well deserved sleep.

Check the animals out here!

 

I’d tried getting a picture of a hummingbird in our back yard without much success. Tracy had had reasonable joy snapping Robert the Hummingbird up at the school bus stop but it was still proving fairly elusive. Until we got to San Diego. In the trees just outside our hotel room Tracy spotted the hummingbirds buzzing about and making their funny noise.

Although I didn’t have the ideal camera lens with me – when do I ever – I did manage to snap a few, a mixture of in the tree and zipping about in the air. A definite improvement I’m sure you will agree!

As is the way when we have a visitor we have to go on a trip – and this time, Aunty A had selected San Francisco (or San Frandiego as Toby called it – he was getting our two August trips somewhat confused!).

We set off for the airport, parked the car, went through security and were ready to go – and then the flight got delayed an hour. Never mind – it gave us the chance to sample breakfast at Wendys again. Hashbrowns were the order of the day but clearly we placed our order too late because they didn’t have any. We stocked up on other goodies and then did a spot of shopping – a common theme throughout the first 2 weeks of August!

Fortunately there were no further delays and we were soon in the air on the way to San Francisco. The flight wasn’t particularly eventful – other than it being everyone’s first flight on Alaska (apart from me) – and an hour and 45 minutes later we landed. San Francisco airport has an interesting approach to landing. It feels like your going to land on water and then at the last second, just before you actually do land on the water the runway appears! What a relief!

As we only had hand luggage we were soon in a cab on the way to our hotel. We were staying in the touristy area of Fisherman’s Wharf but the Holiday Inn was more than satisfactory for our needs. After unpacking the first thing on the list was food! Obviously! We went round the corner from the hotel and found an italian type restaurant and enjoyed some very good food. After food it was a stroll along the front, visiting the shops and then walking out along Hyde Street pier. It was nice and sunny but also pretty windy – wearing the right clothes was proving quite tricky!

We then went along to the small beach by the harbor area and while watching people swimming we got our first good view of Alcatraz – something that was clearly starting to intrigue Harry and Toby:

From the beach we went along past some more piers and saw a submarine, Naughty Marietta “doing her stuff” (which had Tracy in hysterics) and Sally’s Famous Fishwiches:

Next stop was pier 39 with the sea lions. There weren’t as many as usual but they were noisy and pretty stinky!

We then slowly made our way back to the hotel, taking time to stock up on beer, wine and biscuits and tehn settled down for an evening in front of the TV and DS’s. The evening in front of the TV was only briefly interrupted by a trip over the road to the Codmothers, where we got some Baha fish tacos, some fish and some proper English chips. It was lovely!

Next morning we were up early and on the cable car. We went from the bottom of Hyde Street to Union Square.

Obviously we were ravenous so we walked around, sort of aimlessly looking for a good place to have breakfast. By complete fluke we stumbled upon a place called Lori’s Diner which is somewhere Tracy and I had had dinner one evening the last time we were in San Francisco together – just over 10 years ago on our honeymoon.

We had a fab breakfast here which set us up nicely for a day walking the streets of San Francisco. First we went down through Chinatown.

We had a lucky escape in Chinatown. Tracy was clearly suffering from a lack of sleep or something as she went in lots of Chinese tat shops trying to find a gold waving cat. They were truly, truly hideous but for some reason she was most insistent that she wanted one. Fortunately we couldn’t find quite the one she was looking for and then when she did, she discovered that they were battery operated and she went right off the idea. Thank god. I really cannot say how disgusting they are!

From Chinatown we went up to Coit Tower. Sally and the boys posed for a picture at the bottom of the tower and just a couple of seconds after this was taken a couple of fat rats went leaping past behind them. They weren’t overly impressed:

After going up and down the tower we then set off towards Lombard Street, and in particular the wiggly, crookedest part. Despite the fact that San Francisco is mainly hills the boys decided they wanted to run up and down them all – silly boys – but they should have well toned bottoms after all the walking they did.

As usual the crookedest street in the world was chaos but still very lovely. I wouldn’t mind living on this street if it wasn’t for all the people that were there and the fact that the houses probably cost millions!

After walking the streets for a bit longer and then having a drink and a snack in a bar near the hotel we then continued our day of walking. This time we went towards the Golden Gate bridge. It was a bit to far to walk all the way there but that didn’t matter too much as the bridge stayed pretty much in the cloud for the entire time we were in San Francisco.

After all this walking we were starving! So on the way back to the hotel we stopped at a restaurant near the piers and enjoyed another scrummy meal. After this, it was time to stock up on more wine and then back to the hotel for drinks and DS’s.

The final morning arrived and we packed up our belongings and booked a cab for the airport later. Then we walked along the front to Pier 31 to catch the boat to Alcatraz. Harry was very excited about Alcatraz and had spent most of the weekend talking about it. Fortunately it didn’t disappoint him or Toby.

We landed on the island and then took the audio tour round the prison.

We heard about the attempted escapes, the prisoners, the fights and deaths. It was very interesting and a bit creepy at times but before we knew it, it was time to get the boat back to the city so we could get our cab to the airport.

And then that was that! San Frandiego done! A good time was had by all and another visit will be required before we leave I think. I’d like to go to Muir Woods, see the painted ladies (houses), go to Sausalito, visit the Napa Valley and get back to Yosemite. Crikey – there is a lot to do!!

And here are all the photo’s.

 

… The Great Wolf Lodge!

So there we were. Sat in the lounge, me playing football manager on the ipad and Tracy and Sally watching crap American TV. The boys were upstairs sweating in their sleep, when all of a sudden on came an advert for the Great Wolf Lodge.

Sally > Is that were you went?

Tracy> Yes. Shall we go tomorrow?

Sally> Ok

Tracy> Neil check if it’s available

Neil> It is

Sally> Shall we go?

Tracy> No, it’s your worst nightmare. Hundreds of screaming children and nowhere to escape to?

Sally> Have they got a spa?

Tracy> Only for under 14’s

Sally> Do you think I’ll pass for that?

Neil> Am I booking it?

Sally & Tracy > Oh go on then!

Or it went something along those lines anyway! So, that, in a nutshell is the power of TV advertising!

The next morning after I’d left for work, Tracy, Aunty A and the boys packed the car and went to the Great Wolf Lodge. They didn’t tell the boys though – they told them that they were going shopping at a really big Macy’s that was off down the I-5. The boys fell for it for pretty much all the way there.

As they pulled off the freeway to go the last mile or so to the Lodge, Harry rumbled that they were going to the Lodge but what had been planned as a surprise did nearly turn into a disaster! As we had only booked the room the night before the booking hadn’t made it through to the lodge. It took a few phone calls to finally get the Lodge to accept that we had made a reservation and then the fun begun.

I can’t write much more about it because I wasn’t there but I know that:

1. They had a lot of fun
2. Aunty A love the slides
3. Toby got very upset about having to wear his Chelsea shirt wet in the pool
4.Toby was a bit scared of the slides and had to be bribed with TWO build a bears to go down the big one
5. The lady behind the bar who served giant glasses of wine was still there.

So once again the Great Wolf Lodge delivered! Fun was had by all, even Aunty A, and they can’t wait to go back again!