Manta at SeaWorld

SeaWorld opened a new ride last month, just in time for the summer tourist season. We used our passes to go mid-week hoping to beat the crush. There was still a bit of a line for the rollercoaster, but it wasn't too bad, so I think our strategy worked. It's not a long ride; the specs say it's two minutes, but it felt even shorter than that. It is a good one, though. They packed a good coaster into those couple of minutes.
The opening of the new ride also means that the other exhibits that were closed during construction were open again. We hung out by the dolphin pool for awhile, and eventually Chelsey even got to pet one as it glided past the wall.
Summer means longer hours and fireworks at SeaWorld, so I'm sure we'll be back again soon.
-Jason

Padres and Petco again

The entry fee for the Bridge Run that we did last month included a ticket to a San Diego Padres game a couple of weeks later. As it turned out, the game was against the Arizona Diamondbacks. This meant that we would make our second trip to Petco Park this season, and for the second time we we root against the home team, and neither outing was planned that way. Happily for Chelsey, the Diamondbacks won this game. The game happened to be on the same day as the Rock and Roll Marathon. In order to avoid traffic congestion, they pushed the start time of the game back a couple of hours to start in the late afternoon. This meant that it overlapped with the time slot for Sunday Night Baseball, so there was no television coverage of the game. Thus Chelsey's plan to get on TV with her sign was thwarted.
-Jason

NCAA Division III track and field championships

My alma mater hosted the NCAA Division III track and field championships at the end of May. It was the first time this meet had been held west of Iowa, so it was a big deal. I had been looking forward to it for about a year, and fortunately it worked out so Chelsey and I could go volunteer for the whole meet. It was a great meet, as usual at a national championship like that. My school didn't fare too well, but there was some great competition all around. We spent Saturday working the men's and women's pole vault, both of which were good events.
It was also a lot of fun to be back on campus. We even got to stay in the dorms, although not the dorm I lived in during my school years. There were a lot of my former teammates there to volunteer, many of whom I hadn't seen in several years, so there was lots to catch up on. Being able to go to a track meet and hang out like I was back in college was a great graduation gift.
-Jason

Lake Miramar

A few weeks ago we met some friends for a hike around Lake Miramar. The lake is really a reservoir north of San Diego, but it's still a nice place for a walk. There's a five-mile path around the lake. I had read conflicting things about whether it was possible to go all the way around because it passes over a dam, and it wasn't clear whether the dam had been closed. Happily, it is open during daylight hours, so we made it around. It was a nice walk, although if we go back in the summer we'll probably not want to go in the middle of the day.
-Jason

Coronado Bridge Run

 

A couple of weeks ago I signed up for another race. I was just finished recovering from the Carlsbad 5000, so I wasn't really hoping for a super-fast time. It looked like a cool race, however: from downtown San Diego, over the Coronado Bay Bridge and finish in Tidelands Park.
(For those of you who came to celebrate with us in October, it finished right next to where we had the bouncy castle and the joust). It's the only time the bridge is open to pedestrian traffic. Chelsey also signed up for the race, not to run but to take pictures from the bridge. Unfortunately they routed us on the south side of the bridge, rather than the more picturesque north side, but she still got some good ones.
As for me, I actually ran pretty well for the first half of the race before some stomach issues. They weren't serious issues, but they did keep me from really attacking the downhill portion of the bridge, since all that pounding wouldn't have felt too good. Still, I felt it was an encouraging sign, and it was fun to be out there. The race benefited the Navy, or something associated with the Navy, and so they had various Navy bands playing along the route. Both Chelsey and I enjoyed the jazz ensemble right as we entered Coronado.
-Jason

grammar nerd

Let's eat Grandma!
Let's eat, Grandma!

Punctuation saves lives.

Padres

My friend Greg was in town a couple of weeks ago so we decided to hit up a Padres game together. It happened that the Angels were in town, so I got to wear my Angels jersey and root for the road team. I wasn't alone. At one point a fairly vigorous fight broke out in the upper deck several sections over from us. Eventually around eight people were led out of the stadium in handcuffs. We never did figure out what it was about.
The game itself was a good, close one, although the Angels ended up losing. It was my first look at Angels super-prospect Mike Trout, as well as my first glimpse of Albert Pujols in an Angels uniform. He didn't hit any home runs that game, but at least he got on base.
-Jason