Jeff & Konnor's Blog

We recently arrived home from a week-long trip to Southern California. Here are some highlights.

Jet Blue: We may never fly on a different airline again. Departed on time, arrived on time, tons of leg room, television at every seat, an entire can of soda, and good snacks.

San Diego Zoo: We were very fortunate to be traveling with a friend (hey Kevin) who is friends with a zookeeper (thanks Randy) who worked with the apes. He was able to tell us all about each individual ape at the zoo. It's a lot more interesting to watch them when you know their names, relationships, and stories. Seeing how they interacted with Randy was very cool too.

Fat Panda


Lovey Hippos


Random Cool Bird in Parking Lot


Sea World: Here we met our friends Doug and Jen and their two fun kids Max and Charlie. The highlight here was definitely feeding the manta rays. Patrons should probably be warned that rays actually have teeth, however. The shows were OK, but if you've already seen a dolphin jump as high as it can, or a killer whale splash people, or a sea lion wave hello, it's not super exciting to see it again. Sea World actually has much less in it then you might expect. Fun overall, especially since we were able to get in free (thanks again Randy). Full price plus parking would have been a bit much.

Everyone has to have their own "Shamu" picture. Check out the trainers' suits. [Pet peeve alert: the clever marketing campaign that turned killer whales into "Shamu" whales.]


Feeding the manta rays.


The local birds invading the exhibits in the hopes of snagging stray fish were actually among the most interesting aspects of Sea World. We saw a seagull scare a girl half to death by stealing a fish she was about to feed to a dolphin. After the sea lion show, flocks of pigeons attacked as soon as everyone stood up to leave, in order to get bits of popcorn that were left behind in the stands. These egrets were hanging around everywhere:



Balboa Park: Nice to walk around, with gardens, museums, and great architecture.

Outside Horticultural Center


HUGE Fig Tree that reminded Konnor of the trees where he grew up in Hawaii


In case you'd like to be motorcycled around town so everyone can view you when you die:


La Brea Tar Pits: A fun place to spend a couple hours. We'll spare you pictures of the tar. It was odd to see (and smell) pools of tar in a small park in the middle of Los Angeles. The park was filled with hundreds of noisy crows.

Wall of Dire Wolf skulls found in the pits


There were signs like this all over. Apparently, they are tired of being asked about dinosaurs.


Long Beach: Kevin was kind enough to let us stay at his place in Long Beach while on the Los Angeles portion of our trip.

There is in fact a long beach there.


A "disguised" oil facility.


Thanks to all our friends for a great time!