Texas

Back in June (last year!) we took a trip to Texas with Chelsey's family. After a long drive we spent a few days at Josie and Drew's house. It was a busy, event-filled time. We had morning baseball games in the vacant lot next door, afternoon swimming, board games and tennis. There was also, I think, a Wii bowling tournament, but my memory of that seems to be as short as my actual stay in the tourney.

Following all that we traveled down near San Antonio for a sojourn at Schlitterbahn. It's reputed to be the best water park in the country, and although I don't have many points of comparison, I was impressed. There are two separate areas of the park - the original and the new. The new side featured a water slide called Master Blaster, which was apparently voted the best water ride in the nation. Again, my frame of reference is limited, but it was a good ride. It was also very popular, so I only rode it once due to the long lines. This side of the park also had a loop river ride. It had an acqua conveyor belt, which lifted you and your inner tube up to the top of the ride, then you rode down through some rapids before floating back around to the belt. I really enjoyed this one and probably could have ridden it around and around and around.

Despite those good rides, I liked the original side of the park more. There were several (not so) lazy river rides, which was my favourite type (and generally had short or no lines). Most of these also ended by dumping you straight into the Comal River, which I also thought was a lot of fun.
-Jason

Mission Bay Boat cruise

One of the resort hotels in Mission Bay has an old paddle-wheel boat that they use to cruise around the Bay. The cruise is free for hotel guests but the public can buy tickets too. Chelsey and I took a little bay cruise on the boat. It was nice to be on the water at night. We tried to time it so we were on the boat during the SeaWorld fireworks, but they must have changed their schedule because we didn't get to see them.
-Jason

OTL

Over the Line is a modified version of softball with three-person teams that is native to San Diego. It's usually played on the beach, as befits a San Diego sport, but it's become best-known for the annual World Championship played on Fiesta Island in Mission Bay. The championships are infamous not so much for the competition but for the party atmosphere and Mardi Gras-like festivities that take place. Last year Chelsey and I went, with a little trepidation, to check it out. We rode our bikes around the bay and the island, then went in to see some action. It was actually a little tamer than we had feared/expected; some of the team names were quite graphic, but they were mostly background noise and easily ignored. The most visible sign of the tournament's reputation was a golf cart that had been decorated to resemble a male body part - complete with a water gun to squirt out of the front. Classy.

We also watched some of the action, which was fun, but it mostly seemed like an excuse to drink beer in the sun.
-Jason

Olvera Street

Last summer I combined two things I've been wanting to do - ride the train up to LA and go to Olvera Street. The latter is the birthplace of Los Angeles, the site of the original town. It's now a little civic square and a pedestrian shopping street. It's supposed to be like a Mexican market. We were a little disappointed in it, though. it's not very big, and it's mostly cheap tourist stuff - the market stalls weren't that interesting to browse through.

The train ride up was better. The section from San Diego into Orange County is a beautiful ride, right on the coast, as I think we've described on the blog before. So that is always enjoyable.
-Jason

theatre

In addition to several museums, Balboa Park has the Old Globe theatre - a complex that has three stages, including an outdoor one that hosts a Shakespeare series during the summer. Last year we got to go to a play thanks to Chelsey's aunt and uncle. We saw A Midsummer Night's Dream, and quite enjoyed it. Although it's San Diego, and so quite nice on a summer evening, Chelsey could see why they had a decently busy blanket rental service at the theatre. It was also nice to be able to order a hot chocolate before the show and have it ready at intermission. We really enjoyed the performance, so for my birthday Chelsey offered to take me back again this year - we just need to decide on what show to go see.
-Jason

sailing

Last summer our friends Aaron and Wendy took us out sailing from Oceanside. Aaron is a fairly avid sailor and borrowed a friend's boat to take us out. It was my first experience with ocean sailing, but it went pretty well. Aaron did the tricky part to get us out of the harbor, but once we got out on the ocean he gave me a turn piloting the boat. I think you can see from the pictures that I did an excellent job of it. It was a pretty calm day and we did have a good time sailing off Oceanside, although the lack of wind did make the sailing tricky a couple of times. We always recovered, though, and made it back into port safely.
-Jason

Mission Beach roller coaster

Many of you may be familiar with the Giant Dipper rollercoaster at Mission Beach. It's an old wooden coaster that is something of a San Diego landmark. Chelsey and I have been by it many times, as we often park there when we go to the beach. We had never ridden it, though, so we finally decided to give it a try. It was pretty fun, it's a good coaster - but the old wooden tracks sure leave feel shaken up by the time you're done. There are some nice views from the top, too, if you have the time and the stomach to look.

-Jason