Day 5: Oh...

Well folks, today is my last day of vacation.

Goodbye, front desk

 Goodbye, fish

 Helloo Natural History Museum!

Just because I need to go home doesn't mean I have to rush it. I really wanted to  visit this location. When I got there, a group of people offered me a free ticket. Apparently, she had gotten two too many, and she couldn't get a refund (she got them for free), so she let me have one.

This is going to be a good day

A life-size cast of an allosaurus skeleton greets visitors. I have a good feeling about this museum. The museum also shows some other items in the main hall.

Why does this keep happening to me!?!

Before I could really look around, I had to turn in my ticket. The lady monitoring the tickets was really excited about Jerome. Apparently, she did something similar with an ugly doll when she visited Europe.

A very awesome lady

The museum has a temporary mineral and gem exhibit. Jerome and I immediately decided to check it out. A few of the exhibits are actually touchable.

On a petrified pillar

Extinct marine reptiles from space!

I can has labradorite?

Labradorite is a stone that, depending on the light, appears gold, green, blue, or brown. Most of the items, however, were kept safely under glass.

I want it!

Diamonds, emeralds, and gold made this beautiful butterfly broach. 

After looking at the gems, I went to see some of the more permanent exhibitions.

  Just like brothers

This is the first of three mosasaur fossils I found. Upstairs, they had fossils and models of animals found in the San Diego area.

What's the matter, Little Guy?

 Oh...

Fear not, Baby Mastadon! 

For I, Jerome the Mighty have defeated the vile American lion!

Oh...

Fortunately, we were saved by a passing marine mammal.

Barbara Manatee...

Yeah, I totally took this shot just to make my sister happy. Anyway, California apparently had a couple different types of manatee in the area a couple hundred/thousand/million years ago, depending on who you talk to.

The other exhibits for extinct mammals in California were unfortunately dark, so I couldn't get any good photos. Some really weird stuff lived in the area, though.

I'll just rest on this rock for a bit

 Oh...

That's better!

Near the ankleosaurus, I found another mosasaur. 

 Brudder...

 Big Brudder...

A final mosasaur rested at the Snakes and Lizards Alive! exhibit. Due to the glass, getting good photos proved impossible, with one exception:

It's a happy lizard!

It was time to go. Since I saved money on admission, I bought some dinosaur figurines as souvenirs. However, before I left, I saw an opportunity that was way too good to pass up.

A docent laughed at me when she saw me taking this.

I got some funny looks by the albertasaurus, too.

Anyway, I finally left and started for home. Yet, no trip to San Diego would be complete without a stop at:

Tip Top Meats! This excellent restaurant serves wonderful, unpronounceable, unspellable German food. The item I got was pretty much bacon, onions, and a pickle wrapped in meat. Good meat. I did not finish it all, because I wanted dessert.

Cake!

The black forest cake encases chocolate, cream, and cherries in a moist pastry. Good stuff.

cakecakecakecakecakecakecakecakecakecake

Before I left, I grabbed a few items at the shop within the restaurant. The cashier was very amused by my request to take a picture of her. She thought Jerome was funny.

At least she smiled

On the way home, I hit traffic (boo). Eventually, I got back. So, to celebrate my return, I took a photo identical to the one on my first post.

Oh...

I seem to have gained a bit in my travels...

So my vacation ends. Is this the end of my travel blog? Probably not. It was fun to reflect and relate what I was up to. If I go anywhere exciting, I'll try to continue it.

Until then, peace out mah ninjas!

Day 4: Charlin vs. Shamu

Well, no trip to San Diego is complete without a visit to the city's largest resident, so I headed toward Sea World. Actually, I was surprisingly stiff from walking yesterday, so I looked into other modes of transportation.

What kind of mileage does she get?

I lost Jerome in the glare. So I tried something else.

Who parked this thing?

All joking aside, I managed to get around without any particular problems.

However, unlike the zoo, animals at Sea World move frequently and are usually surrounded by highly reflective glass, so I ended up taking more pictures of the staff than the animals.

This nice man was advertising tours in front of the park.

 This is Jenna. She taught us about the penguins.

This young lady trains the sea lions.

  This guy...was harassing some of the waiters at the place I got lunch at. 

He said he was trying to get attention. 

So I gave it to him.

Still, I managed to get some photos of the animals.

I'm bigger than you

Obligatory shot of Shamu.

I'm bigger than yoouuu...

Most of the belugas stayed by the window. Two stayed in the back, though. Their names are Ruby and Pearl. Peal is only about two months old and is absolutely adorable. She also stubbornly refused to get in any picture I took, so just pretend an itty-bitty gray (she will not turn white until she is older) whale in there.

I'm bigger than - wait, what? No! NOOO!

Why have you abandoned me oh great gods of forced perspective?

The sharks were pretty cool. I ended up going into a total aquarium-esque shpeel about them to some fellow tourists. They said they appreciated it, but I guess I'm a little embarrassed.

He's still there, isn't he?

After walking my legs off the day after walking my legs sore, I was ready to take it easy.

The lady and I will have a dry sherry.

Actually, I had a coke with some really good ravioli at the Old Spaghetti Factory on 5th Avenue.

Tomorrow, we head home. Right after visiting some dinosaurs.

Day 3: Charlin's Day Off

When vacationing, timing is important. If the vacationer attempts to do too much too soon, he or she burns out, gets cranky, and turns a good trip into a bad experience. A wise planner will include time for rest and leisure. So, today I did just that.

I managed to sleep in a bit (I always have trouble with hotel beds). Eventually, I migrated out of the room and looked around the hotel.

Fish

The hotel sports a lounge with big, overstuffed chairs, a television that only shows a fireplace, and a fishtank. The tank has a bitty little redtooth triggerfish, an evasive snowflake moray eel, and a very fat puffer fish. After looking around, I sought sustenance.

  Coffeeeeeee

 

Actually, it's hot chocolate.

I was ready to go, but the decor of the shop really struck me.

Doesn't he look like an icon at a cathedral?

Anyway, I decided to work off some of the junk food I ate over the past week and do some walking. The Internet recommended a few stores I really wanted to check out. The first was So Simple, a jewelry store.

Bling-bling

I am a total and utter sucker for necklaces, so I walked out with a very nice fluer-de-lis pendent. Walking further, I found the sign every website promoting any shop, hotel, restaurant, or tourist destination in the Gaslamp Quarter.

I'm N UR shot, rooning UR pic

This part of Gaslamp is, in fact, the land of the suits. Apparently, San Diego's very large convention center had a major event and all the suited businesspeople left for lunch. I had never seen so many suits outside of a department store. Of course, the suits need someplace to stay, so many hotels and offices with bad art surround the area.

  I just don't get it

Jerome's in the picture, but it came out darker than I expected.

Instead of just looking at the big buildings, I found a beautiful view.

Beautiful

Unfortunately, there was one flaw with the view, and this is it:

The view is guarded by a million stairs. Seriously. And they are not all in one staircase. Noooo.

 You think you're almost to the top. You take two more steps...

Daahhh! Curse you, terranced stairs!

As you can tell by the photo, some die-hards were actually doing up-downs on these stairs. Multiple times. Around noon. The. Very. Hottest. Time. Of. DAY.

I just can't relate to that. So I got some lunch.

Fiiissshhhh

The Tin Fish serves a great batch of fish and chips. I scarfed all six pieces. Then, I did some more walking. I got to the beach, almost got run over by three bikers, talked to a fisherman (who told me he caught a 32-pound fish last week, but he had to let it go), and got tired. However, I wanted to see a few more highly-recommended stores. Known as Crunch Time, the shop was praised for its friendly service, great variety, and tasty popcorn. All accounts were perfectly accurate.

Yay!

The sales clerk was very excited about Jerome. She explained that she had seen a commercial where a father does something similar to Jerome for his son. I think she is awesome.

After purchasing some very yummy popcorn, I headed to the mall. This time, I managed to avoid pushy salespeople. Unfortunately, the last store I wanted to see, the Discovery Channel Store, had closed two months prior. I still managed to find a nice souvenier for some of the folks back home, although I may get something else for them as well. It's been a long, restorative day, so it's time to kick back and eat popcorn.

Livin' the good life

Tomorrow, we take on Sea World!