San Diego Fun

This past weekend marks a month long trend of getting out and trying new things which showcase how much fun can be had in San Diego.

Balboa Park

It all started a month ago when my dad came out to visit. We started the weekend off with a late Friday night dinner at my favorite San Diego restaurant Café Sevilla. The next day went to Balboa Park and walked around and visited all of the gift shops. I run through Balboa Park all the time but have never yet been to any of the museums. I still haven’t been to any museums, but I now have been in numerous gift shops!

 

The Old Globe Theater was having an open house the weekend my dad was in town so we went in for a tour of the facility. There were also costumes on display, actors in character, games, and a variety of other fun happenings.

Old Globe Theater - Balboa Park

 Old Globe Theater - Costume Display

 Gardens in Balboa Park

San Diego County Fair

A couple weeks ago I decided that I was finally going to check out the San Diego County Fair. I detailed that adventure in "Food and Fun at the Fair".

 Corn at the Fair

 

Wild Animal Park

The weekend following the San Diego Fair (last weekend), I went to the San Diego Wild Animal Park for the first time! I had been to the actual Zoo before a couple years ago with David, and really wasn’t impressed. I didn’t find the animals all that interesting and the place was really hot, and they had these double decker tour buses carting the LAZY people around, so in between seeing animal exhibits I was inhaling bus fumes. Gross.

I was at the zoo more recently for a company party, but didn’t come early to enjoy the zoo and only showed up at the end for the dinner. Hey, it was the same day as my marathon and I had just run 26.2 miles. The idea of walking around the zoo was completely unappealing.

 Christina & Me on Marathon Eve

Anyways, when I got to the zoo for the party I was also given a free pass to the Wild Animal Park! Score! Fortunately for me and my future park date (and not for Christina my zoo party date), the tickets expired on July 6th. Christina wasn’t going to be back in town by then, so she gave me her ticket too.

Christina Channeling Chrissy Snow - Three's Company

 

So .... last weekend my friend Devika and her adorable little 2 year old son Ben joined me at the Wild Animal Park - resulting in the first visit for all of us! Devika and I decided to get to the park early to avoid the crowds and to ensure that we’d be done before Ben would need a nap. The park opened at 9am and with my lagging in the morning and the drive there from her house, we arrived around 10am. Oops! Sorry! ;o( The park wasn’t crowded and at times it was so NOT-crowded that we weren’t sure which direction to go! We walked all around the park and also went on the Safari Adventure bus ride which got you closer to the animals.

 Two Half Swedes & One Quarter Swede - Which two are surprising? Haha

The Wild Animal Park is WAY better than the Zoo! It is so big and they have soo much land (I think the guide said 70+ acres?) and it was a really fun day.

Broadway Comes to San Diego

David and I have seen one play at the Old Globe Theater here in San Diego, but haven’t yet made it to a Broadway show … until this past weekend! Avenue Q was here in San Diego for 5 days and I quickly got tickets. I was beyond excited to get 2nd row tickets for the Friday show at a fairly resonable price. Score! I bought them only a couple days in advance!

 

 

I had originally heard about Avenue Q from Garley, and had downloaded their intro song which is currently on my running playlist/ This song always makes me laugh when I hear it. Its called “It Sucks to Be Me”. Its really humorous and a bit crass, but funny none the less. The show has puppets as main characters and I was not quite sure how that would be presented. Would you only see the puppets? Would you see the puppets and the puppeteers? It turns out that for the characters who are puppets, you see them and right there with them their ‘master’. The funny thing though was that ae were also characters who are not puppets, and they are worked right into things! All in the same scene and setting!

The show was really, really funny! I was a bit taken back by the language and puppet nudity (who knew this existed??) which provided a lot of shock value for the show, but overall it had a nice story and showcased a variety of characters and relationships. If Avenue Q comes into your town, you should see it!

 

Bowling

As I’d mentioned in my previous blog post “I’m Over the Marathon”, I’m really not an athlete. I mean I’m REALLY not. I’ve never enjoyed team sports because I could never get over the fear of being pushed, shoved, or knocked down to the ground, or the fear of being hit in the face or anywhere else on my body by a ball. Growing up I did ballet, gymnastics, and cheerleading. All soft sports where you were safe and alone! As an adult I love running – another solitary sport!

Anyways, this past weekend David and I met up with Rich and Karen for bowling! While bowling is not a team sport, it is a sport which requires technique and skill. (And apparently the minimum arm strength required to hold and throw a >10lb ball without complaining about the weight. I’m totally guilty about complaining about the weight of the ball. Pathetic! 10lbs! But for me, it was really heavy! I’m kind of sore today!)

 Rich & Karen Bowling

 David & Me Bowling

 

I haven’t been bowling in years, and I’ve never been any good. We all thought it would be fun though and met at a local bowling alley to test out our skills. When we got there around 6:30pm the place was pretty empty. By about 9pm though when we left, the place was packed!

We played four games which ranged from Rich & David doing well and me & Karen trailing behind, to Rick doing great, Karen & me doing okay, and David failing miserably (sorry David!), to Rich doing well, David coming back at the end to win, and Karen & me doing okay.

 David - High Score Champion!

In summary? Rich and David are good, though David wasn’t consistent ... and Karen and I alternate between strikes, gutterballs, and hits in between, making us even out as mediocre players. Bowling was a lot of fun and I think a rematch is on the horizon!

My fun in San Diego will be on hold for a while I (Or Domo?) will be on the road for work and personal trips. Next up? Vegas for work. Right on the heels of that trip is a trip to Paris to visit my mom for fun! And then right after that is a quick trip up to San Francisco to run the San Francisco Half Marathon and to support my friend Christina who will be running the full marathon as her first full marathon! I’m sooo excited for her and proud of her for all of the hard work that she has put into her training. I can’t wait to see her on the course and to be there cheering her on towards the finish line!

Christina – If you are reading this, prepare yourself for a large embarrassing sign. :o) Good luck, and be proud for everything you have done to prepare yourself for that day! You've put in the miles and you deserve to rock it that day!