Vacation Day 6, Sunday

Day 6, Sunday

We had all the intentions of going to church today.  We even found out where the closest church was.  So off we set for 9:00 am church.

Well what we did not know was that the road the church was on was closed for a marathon. (How did the locals make it, to church?) Know what, it's getting late, we did not know the area,  what to do....

Why we keep passing the San Diego Temple.  Its really close to our hotel, less than a mile away, so off we went to the temple.  We walked around the temple and sat on some benches under very overcast skies and told stories of how temples had blessed our lives.

 It was very nice, even if we couldn't make it to the church.  By the way this is one of Mom's favorite temples.

After the temple we went back to the hotel and changed clothes and decided to go to Cabrillo Point National Monument.

Cabrillo Point has some neat tide pools, a nice visitors center and a light house.  We missed low tide when there was the most tide pools but still found some neat things like these guys hanging out in the rocks.

A nice group shot at Cabrillo Point.

As you an see it was a little chilly that day, especially if you are right at the beach.

While in the visitors center these two guys gave a little talk about Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo (who was the first European to step foot on the West Coast)  and what it might be like to sail at the time he did.  They had all the authentic gear and clothing and it was a neat presentation.

Max would you like to wear this chain mail all day?

Super D was excited because he got to be an Official Cabrillo Point Junior Ranger, complete with badge and certificate.

Next it was a short climb up to the lighthouse. 

 After all this it was time to head to Anaheim to check into our new home for the next couple of days.

  Which was right across the street from Disneyland.

After we got to the hotel, the kids played in the pool and Grandma, Grandpa, Linda, BYU dad and Miss Mae took a walk to see how long it would take to get to Disneyland.  5 minutes after we left the room we were at the front gates.  We wondered around and headed back ready to set out tomorrow on another Disney day.

Vacation Day 5...

BYUDad:  Okay here we are on Day 5 of the vacation.  The first day that we did not have the entire day planned out.  We did of course have some plans and those plans included going kayaking in the Ocean (one of things that came with the trip).  We had an appointment for 9:30am to do the kayaking and thanks to Groupon Grandma, Grandpa and Linda got to go as well.  BYU dad, Miss Mae and Super D were just going to the beach to look for seashells and play on the sand.  

 The beach that we went to was in La Jolla.  There are caves along part of the beach that you can kayak into  so that was the plan.  BYU Dad, Miss Mae and Super D went with the group to get them all set for their kayaking adventure and then headed for the beach.  We found a spot to park the car and walked out to the water.  Super D was sure to find some sea shells, so we walked a bit into the surf.  It did not take long for Super D to figure out that the waves can get high some times.

This is a view from the ROAD overlooking La Jolla Nature Preserve.  These sea lions were sunning on rocks about 30 yards away from a public beach where people were sunning themselves.  So cool to see them in Real Life.

After some time walking along, picking up tiny sea shells and rocks and other neat thing you find on the beach we sat down and watched the kayaks heading out into the ocean.  After an  hour or so, we headed back to the hotel for a nice bath and some cartoons.

Mom:  This is totally the highlight of the trip for me!  It was so exciting and something so completely different.  I was excited about this from the moment we won the trip.  My mom had some reservations about kayaking in the ACTUAL Ocean.  I completely discounted these reservations.  I knew it would be completely safe and harmless.  It's a TOUR, right?  
So we got all outfitted at "San Diego Bike and Kayak Tours" and walked a few blocks down to the beach.  Our tour guide was really great.  She showed us how to paddle and how to hold the paddle.  Then she showed us how to get BACK in the Kayak if we CAPSIZED.  At this point I realized that we were going in the ACTUAL Ocean.  I asked her to review her tips on getting back in the kayak.  I privately and fervently hoped I wouldn't need this knowledge.  This is about the time that I noticed the surf pounding the beach.  It was regular old beach surf.  For some reason this surprised me.  I think I was expecting smooth-as-glass lake water on a wind-free day.  Surprise!  But I was still so excited about this chance to explore the ocean.  
An employee took our kayak to calf-deep water and held it still while Max and I hopped in.  We'd learned to paddle hard thru waves and to keep our kayak pointed STRAIGHT into the waves.  They assured us that if we did these things we would be fine.  We believed them.  The employee walked behind our kayak and pushed us as we paddled.  He pushed us thru 1 big wave, which we handled like pros.  We kept paddling as another BIG wave rushed us.  We paddled and pointed straight and didn't worry because the employee was still pushing us... right?  Wrong.  About that time we could hear his tiny little voice, very far away yelling, "Keep paddling!  You're doing great!!!!"  And we were!!!  It was incredible to navigate a skinny little kayak thru big waves and slice right thru them.  We loved it!  We steered pretty well because my dad has trained us on his canoe.  We met up with our guide and watched the rest of the group go thru the surf.  Our whole group did great.  Our guide, Anna, told us we were going to explore 3 different habitats in the La Jolla Nature Preserve and she did a great job explaining lots of interesting things to us.

 We'd paddle to different locations and she'd tell us what lived underneath where we were floating.  (Fish, Sea Turtles, Sea Weed, etc.)  Awesome Joe rode with Linda and my parents shared a kayak with each other.  There were 4 other guys in our group too but 2 of them got sea sick coming thru the surf so they turned back after a few minutes.  The swells were pretty dramatic that day.  I was really glad we'd booked the morning tour because they said it typically gets rougher later on.  

We spotted the head of a giant sea turtle.  Sweet!

As we were paddling around, learning about ecosystems and getting familiar with our kayaks my attention was suddenly drawn to some MASSIVE cliffs with some IMPRESSIVE surf crashing into them.  THESE were the caves we were supposed to tour.  Whoa.
Suddenly we noticed a bunch of pelicans swooping into the water and popping up with fish.  Anna said that usually meant dolphins were in the area.  She asked if we wanted to go closer and skip the caves.  We all agreed immediately. :)   We like dolphins.
We started spotting dolphins all around us.  They were swimming in a big circle, rounding up fish for lunch.  The pelicans were appreciative too.  We were in heaven!  It was sooo cool, almost spiritual, to see those magnificent creatures in their natural environment, doing what God intended them to do.  It felt like a gift from Heaven.  I was so happy!

This is a harbor seal that came to check us out!

That pod of dolphins swam away and we followed at a respectful distance.   We saw a few more pods swimming here and there, some pretty close and some far away...   Then suddenly, right between us and another group of kayaks, came a whole pod swimming 10 FEET AWAY FROM US...  And here is the proof.  My aunt's disposable water-proof cheap-o camera earned it's keep!  That's me and Max RIGHT by a dolphin.  WOW.

Anna said that we were seeing the Common Dolphin which is awesome to see because 1) they are actually pretty rare in La Jolla and 2) they jump out of the water alot more than bottle nose dolphins.  She also told us that in the year and a half she's been leading tours this was one of the best she's had for being up close and personal.  What a trip!!  We were so elated!  

Then, all too soon our 2 hr tour was over and we had to turn back.  Anna told us to put our glasses in our pockets in case we capsized.  We didn't really worry about it too much.  The trip was over, right?  

Max and I headed in first.  I was totally enjoying it and wanted to go really slow to stay on the water longer but Max's legs were stiff and his arms were getting a bit sore so we headed for shore.  There were a few groups coming into the ocean and a few groups leaving so we all had to take turns entering the surf.
We paddled hard and straight for shore, got hit hard from behind by a really BIG wave and it shot us up and onto the beach sand and made us laugh!  What a rush!!!

Then Awesome Joe and Linda came in.  They had pretty much the same experience we had.

Sweet!

Then my parents took their turn.  Another kayak was coming in right at them so they stopped paddling to avoid a collision.  This was good.  Unfortunately, a GIANT wave crashed on them.  This was bad.  It tipped them right over.  Luckily the water wasn't too deep right there.. maybe waist-deep.  Before they could stand up another wave crashed into them and rolled them over and under.
Anna said that even she couldn't have made it through that giant wave and that they shouldn't worry about it.
My poor mom!  She was secretly petrified the entire trip about capsizing and she was the only group who did.  What a trooper though!  None of us had any idea she was so worried about it.  I was very proud of her for conquering a life-long fear of kayaking.  It's too bad it ended up with her up-ended....

Anna told us that the surf is completely different in the summer and that the ocean is like glass.  We decided we'd have to come back then.  Well,  I decided that.  My mom is still thinking it over. :)
But we have to go explore the SEVEN Caves of La Jolla and see the leopard sharks and gibaldi gold fish.  I am totally there!

Since we didn't get to explore the caves they gave us a pass to see the only cave accessible by land.  We went back to shower and eat lunch and pick up the sea shell hunters.
Sunny Jim's Cave:
This cave is in the basement of a little shop called the Cave Store.  Two guys dug out this tunnel BY Hand. It took a few years.

 Here we go d...o...w...n....

And here is the opening of the cave.  It's supposed to look like the profile of a guy from a cereal box or a cartoon character...obviously made a big impression on me.... (hard to compete with DOLPHINS).

Here we all are in the bottom of the cave!

These are the massive cliffs I mentioned earlier.  See why I wanted to avoid crashing into them?  And they are the favored nesting spot for Brown Pelicans and Cormorants.  Pretty cool!

View from La Jolla Shores Drive... so pretty!  So worth the drive!

We ended up spending the whole day here, in between trips back to the hotel to eat and change laundry.

Grandma and Grandpa having a "romantic moment....with Super D!"
(Max and Awesome Joe thought this was hilarious and took the photo and said
we HAD to blog it and caption it just so.)

My, what brave cliff explorers!

So, did you know where Dr. Seuss hails from?  Me neither, till our awesome tour guide filled me in.  He's La Jolla-ian.  After we knew that we found Dr. Seuss inspiration everywhere!
"The trees!  The trees!  The Truffula Trees!  All my life I've been searching for trees such as these!"

Tonight's Bedtime story is Disneyland

Tonight's bedtime story is Disneyland.  ( As told to Super D by BYU Dad)
We woke up early in the morning so we could go to Disneyland.  We went down the long long elevator so we could have breakfast.  What did we have for breakfast Super D?  Eggs, bacon, muffins, juice, hot cocoa, pancakes, yogurt, grapefruit, bread and bananas.  After breakfast we went back up to our room so we could ready for Disneyland.  We put sunblock on.  We got dressed.  We got our cooler and our stuff for lunch.  Then we rode the long long elevator back down and got in our car.

Then we told Grandma and Grandpa that we'd meet them in Disneyland.  We got in our car and we drove to Disneyland.  It took a l o n g time to get to Disneyland.  It took an hour and a half.  We got close to Disneyland and we called Grandma and Grandpa and they said they were going to the Subway to get sandwiches.  We said that we were pulling into the parking lot of Disneyland and that we would meet them at the entrance.  We parked the car, got the stroller out and got everyone ready to go.  We went over to the escalator and elevator to go down to the shuttle.  Everyone went down the escalator except for Dad and Miss Mae, who waited for the elevator. We all met at the bottom and walked to where the shuttle would pick us up.  We waited for a shuttle and soon it was our turn to get on. We had everyone carrying something or someone, but we made it on and were on our way to the entrance, Mom was not sure that the door would shut but luckily it did.  The shuttle stopped after a short ride and we reassembled everything and headed for Disneyland. We walked up to the entrance plaza and waited for Grandma and Grandpa and Linda.  We waited for several minutes and the natives were getting restless, but since they had our lunch and we had the tickets we had to wait.  We got our locker and Mom sacrificed by waiting for them (with their tickets).  We walked in and headed to City Hall.

  At City Hall a cast member asked if he could help me.  I said that we had a couple of First Timers and he gave Miss Mae and Super D a First Time button.  I got a birthday button and Awesome Joe and Max both got I'm Celebrating buttons.  We headed back out to the entrance and soon saw the rest of the crew heading in.  Of course then the rest of our party had to head to City Hall and get buttons too.  

Then we met Mickey just a entered Main Street.  After a quick photo op we
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over to TOMORROW LAND.  The first thing we did was get Fast Passes for Star Tours.  We realized that Buzz Lightyear had NO WAIT so we got right on.  We defeated Emperor Zurg.  Super D, who did you ride with?  Yep.  Dad.  Dad really knows how to rack up the score on that right.  (Secret:  Triangles are worth the most, then diamonds.  IF they're lit up they're worth A LOT more. Shh...)  This turned out to be one of Super D's favorite rides.

 After Buzz we went to Autopia so Super D could drive a car. Super D was not the best driver, but was actually very silly.  He was driving me and I was the gas.  Needless to say we bumped the rail a ton! Mom, Grandma and Miss Mae waited for us and once we were done I took Miss Mae and Mom, Grandma and Super D got to go on it.  Grandpa, Max and Joe decided to go wait in line for the Nemo Submarines.   After Mom. Grandma and Super D git done driving we headed over to find the others at the subs.  We waited a few minutes and then it was time for our undersea adventure.  The subs were great.  Linda was hesitant to ride them again having ridden them many years ago and not having a great experience.  After it was over she did admit that it was better than the old ride.

 After we emerged from the sea it was time to have an Adventure (in Adventure land).  First off Fast passes for Indiana Jones.  Then a cruise on the jungle. Everyone enjoyed their cruise on the jungle and then it off to visit some Pirates.   On the way a couple of us (Super D and Josh) visited Tarzan, (I tried to catch up and hurry them on).  It was nice that there were not very long waits on any of the rides.  After the boat ride through the Caribbean  (which was scary for one little boy) several of us wanted to visit a 999 happy haunts.  Mom, Linda Super D and Miss Mae opted for Winnie the Pooh.

   Max and Joe enjoyed the ghosts but proclaimed that it wasn't scary.  After our visit to the Mansion we headed to the hundred acre wood and found Mom, Super D, Linda and Miss Mae just getting ready to visit the woods so we went along as well.  In the short line a family in front of us had a couple of daughters with First Time badges on.  They were about 7 so we told them that it was a pretty scary ride and asked if they really wanted to ride such a scary ride.  Their dad got in on it and continued the theme. They survived the ride as did we.  Our fast passes were now up for Indiana Jones so we went over and did a ride swap and found the forbidden eye.  We then decided to use our fast passes for Star Tours (Wow a great ride) and then headed for a family favorite Big Thunder Mountain.

While at Big Thunder we saw a Mexican Restaurant that had big Taco Salads that were calling Mom's name, so dinner was in the park at the Rancho del Zocalo Restaurant.  It was very good food and you got to have Big Thunder race right by.  We rode Big Thunder several more times and then opted for a cruise around the Rivers of America on the Mark Twain.  (Super D is getting very sleepy now.  I think all of the details are boring him a little).  A couple of us visited the Tiki Room,(Miss Mae's clapped and said Yeah! the entire show) while the rest visited Space Mountain.  Max was unsure about going on Space Mountain but really liked it once he rode it.  We then got seats for Fantasmic.  We found a good spot and took turns looking in the shops and waiting for the show. Mom looked for Miss Mae some socks since she would not wear any and it was getting cold.  She found some for BYUBoy so those socks turned into leg warmers.  Fantasmic was great and we even got to stay where we were and watch the fireworks.  After the fireworks we were trying to decided do we leave or stay and do more rides, since the park stayed open until midnight.  Super D was now asleep, Miss Mae was asleep and Joe was really close.

    We opted to leave and make the long drive back to the hotel.  On the way out we did stop and watch some classic Mickey cartoons for a few minutes and then headed back to the hotel.