We managed to get the kids up early this morning and on the road at 9:30 am. Our destination this morning was the USS Midway – a retired Aircraft Carrier which is now a museum where you can go through the various parts and see how the 4500 sailors lived, worked and played.

It was very interesting particularly with the lack of room each sailor had to live in. There are certainly advantages in rank, as the higher the rank the more personal space and priveleges. Bit like the fire service really.

We spent 3.5 hours going over the carrier looking at various aircraft they have as well (there is about 30 aircraft on board). Even got to the bridge and of course squashed some pennies as well.

We left at 1:30 pm and headed north.

We thought the kids would be tired today after yesterday at SeaWorld. They didn’t get out of bed until 10:30 am. It was OK as we wouldn’t have such a full a day as yesterday.

We got to San Diego Zoo around 12:00, first taking the guided bus tour through the zoo (how cool – beats walking especially up and down those hills).

After the bus tour we then looked at the exhibits we wanted a closer look at which included the bears, monkeys, birds, elephants, polar bears and of course the tigers.

There was plenty of penny squashing again today. Not sure how much we have spent of squashing pennies but it is a lot. There will probably be more of this tomorrow.

There was only one show we saw today – the Bird show which showed many of the larger birds in flight as well as a cheeky raven that would take your money.

After the Zoo we headed into Downtown to show some of the sights but there were a lot of streets closed due to the Baseball on tonight. We did manage to get to the Gaslamp Area then down to Tuna Lane for the Bob Hope statue and the Sailor statue. It also gave the kids an idea of what we were doing tomorrow – the USS Midway.

It was then over and back the Coronado Bridge and back to the hotel to pack and get an early night – I am sure!!

In the 2 weeks we have been here Bradley has been collecting the State Quarters and he has done well but we are still missing a Tennessee Quarter – one day to go, maybe we will find one tomorrow or our US friends will need to keep an eye out for one.

Apart from the Midway tomorrow, another highlight will be meeting up with the Podcacher Team of Sonny, Sandy and Sean in Carlsbad on the way up to LA.

Caches for today:

• GC19PWE – Jessica and Nicoles Cache!
• GCHBT3 – San Diego Zoo Virtual
• GC1TC9Z – NewZooCache
• GC1JQWY – IHO WindyMatters Nifty 50 – Flower Power!

It was another great day in San Diego – a little too good as we all got sunburnt even though sunscreen was applied. Today we spent the day at Seaworld doing pretty much all the shows and rides. I will list them as we did them:

• Wild Arctic – a motion simulator
• Wild Arctic Interaction – beluga whales, polar bears and walruses
• Shamu Show Believe – sat in the splash zone and got wet. The cheap hawaiian shirts we bought had the dye running when they got wet so I turned blue (Great Show)
• Dolphin Discovery – Dolphins and whales (Another great show)
• Freshwater Aquarium – up close and personal with piranhas
• Flamingos – beats the 3 we have at home
• Bayside Skyride – gondalo over the bay
• Turtles – up close and personal
• Tidal Pool – kids got to touch star fish
• Shipwreck Rapids – about a 25 minute wait and we got wet and I got blue again
• Skytower Ride – up and rotating to the top of the tower but a lot slower than some of the other rides we have been on – good views of Seaworld and San Diego
• Shark Encounter – through a clear tunnel with sharks swimming overhead
• Cirque de la Mer – Cirque du Soleil but over and in the water (another great show)
• Aquarium de la Mer – saltwater aquarium
• Sea Lions Tonite – show modelled on TV shows using Sea Lions and an Otter (not as goos as the other animal shows)
• Sesame Street Presents – we went in, we sat down, they dimmed the lights then they got us out – it would not work, so a thumbs down on this one
• Pets Rule – dogs, cats, pigs, birds doing all sorts of stunts and activities (Great Show)
• Journey to Atlantis – we waited in the line for 30 minutes then it broke down, we waited for about 15 minutes and it was up and running. A great ride so we did it again with only a 15 minute wait 🙂
• Shamu Rocks – the Shamu show at night with lights and music – spectacular.
• Shamu’s Skysplash – what theme park is worth its salt if there isnt Fireworks

We had an enjoyable day and the kids were exetremely tired as we would find out on the next morning.

Cache for the Day:

• GC88DD – SeaWorld Cache San Diego

After visiting LA County Fire Station 127 we headed down the Coast Road towards San Diego. You know when you are travelling through some expensive real estate like Laguna Beach, Dana Point and San Clemente as the car yards are selling BMW and Mercedes and the mechanics only do these exclusive cars as well.

It seems there is not much land left as all the houses are on top of each other and they are big as well. The land that is left has oil wells bobbing up and down. The beaches are good though and were well attended today.

At Dana Point we headed back on the I-5 and as we were heading through Camp Pendleton there was a hold up of a car fire on our side. A couple of patrol cars and fire trucks and we were on our way but not for long as just around the corner was Squirrel Point.

Squirrel Point is named because of all the squirrels that live there and can be hand fed with peanuts. This was the first time that the kids had come up close and personal to the little critters. We were also entertained by the helicopter movements of the Camp Pendleton Marines.

After feeding the squirrels it was into Mission Valley to our suite. I grabbed a couple of caches while Jenny went shopping and the kids watched TV.

Caches for the day:

• GC183P2 – Mission Valley Circle
• GCX2W0 – Jenny and Peter at Squirrel Point
• GC15CQB – work related-Graveyard Shift-13

A couple of destinations today – Hollywood and Oxnard Fire Department. We had to put our Oxnard visit back a couple of hours because it took 1.75 hours to get from Orange to Hollywood. The kids got to experience the LA Freeways at its worst.

We finally got to Hollywood and it didnt let us down – there were people everywhere and also plenty of very ordinary people dressed up to be movie stars and cartoon characters. If you want to see the real things it is better to look towards Universal Studios and Disneyland where they look real and don’t ask for cash for a photo.

Of course the most popular star on the Hollywood Boulevard is Michael Jackson and it is easy to find with the biggest crowd around it.

Spent about an hour on the Boulevard with photos towards the Hollywood sign, then headed out to Oxnard Fire Department (this will be another entry).

After visiting Oxnard we took the Coast Highway home stopping off at a Missile Park next to the Port Hueneme Naval Base. We continued down the coast and had tea at Paradise Cove Cafe on the beach at Malibu.

We only ordered appetizers and needless to say we finished them off for tea the following night as well – they were huge (check out the photos).

It was a quick pass of the Santa Monica Pier all lit up and back to the hotel with a tired couple of critters on board. Tomorrow we head to San Diego.

Caches for the day:

• GCG2JY – Perched Birds
• GC1G6NQ – 9-11 Tribute 2008

We still had one day on the Disney Park Hopper and not a lot to do there so made it a late start so the kids could have a rest in the morning. We got there at 12:00 midday and got to park up near the top of the Mickey and Friends parking structure.

Spent some time squashing some more pennies – both kids are getting quite a collection. Then went and grabbed a fast pass for Space Mountain.

Before doing Toon Town it was time to grab the rides Bradley and I had been avoiding – Snow Whites Scary Adventure and Its a Small World. That tune and the ride Its a Small World has not changed in 17 years and to add insult to injury it broke down or something just as we reached the exit and we were stuck listening to that tune for another 10 minutes. This ride is certainly a leveller with the big tough guys covered in tatts riding it with their young kids. 🙂

It was then time for Toon Town and grab some more photos with Disney Characters Minnie and Mickey Mouse (Mickey has a sucker line inside his house but you can see how long Minnies line is). Jenny and the kids grabbed the roller coaster in Toon Town while I waited. We then got on another sucker line for the Spin City ride.

Our recommendation – avoid Toon Town if you can.

Our time had come for Space Mountain – this Fast Pass is the go on the busy rides as you go almost to the front of the line.

A couple of goes on Buzz Lightyears Astro Blasters (one using a fast pass) then off the planet with Star Tours.

We were heading over to do some shopping in Frontierland when the Big Thunder Mountain Railway just opened up after a breakdown so it was straight on. We grabbed a fast pass for this one, went shopping for a Tiger Pillow for Bradley and a bag for Rachael.

While waiting for our fast pass time we took the slow train around the park when ended up being true as it broke down in Tomorrowland. Most people got off but they had it up and running in around 5 minutes so we were back to New Orleans and onto the Big Thunder Mountain Railway again.

Off of here, back into Main Street in time for the fireworks for the 3rd time now. Jenny and Rachael scrapped up a heap of the paper Mickeys that they explode out at the end of the Fireworks.

We decided on some TV Dinners from Target for tea – I grabbed a cache while they shopped and it was back to the hotel by 10:30 pm.

Cache for the day was GC1N2FC – Hot Coco

The kids are starting to get weary but there is so much to see and do.

Today we picked to go to Universal as we figured traffic would be light on the Freeways to get there from Orange and they were. It took us around 45 minutes to get there.

They may not be getting the people through but are making it up in parking. If you want to park in the parking garage next to the entrance which used to be the normal park it costs you $20 as it is preferred parking. If you want a 10 minute walk from the new park then it is $12. We paid the extra $8.

Weather was a little warm today but they have it sorted with shade and misters everywhere. We decided on the Backlot Tour first to give the kids an idea of what it was all about. All the old favourites were there with Jaws, the flash flood, San Francisco earthquake and some new ones as well with Tokyo Drift and Grinch sets and props.

There was then more penny squashing to be done and photos with characters and we were getting warm so off to the Jurassic Park ride to get wet. The queue was only 5 minutes and we got wet – the kids wanted to do it again but it will wait for later in the day.

While we were down the bottom we did Backdraft, Sound Effects tour and the new Mummy ride. Rachael worked herself up to just about not ride on it but it was not as bad as some of the others we had been on. Maybe we are getting immune to scary rides. 🙂

Back up the top and we did Shrek 4D (not bad), Terminator 3D (very good), Waterworld (interesting but have seen it before), Animal Actors (fun for the kids), Simpsons ride (lame for the length of the wait).

It was nearly time to leave so we went back down the bottom for one last go on Jurassic Park and we got wet again but it did not matter as the temp was still in the high 20’s.

We checked out the Blues Brothers revue before heading home before sunset.

Grabbed a virtual geocache just outside going through some very skinny streets just wide enought to get a car through with one side having parked cars. Wouuld be interesting in a fire truck.

Todays cache was GCA8AD – LarsThorwald’s Psycho!

The afternoon and evening was spent going on the rides we had done in the morning including Toy Story and California Screamin.

We also went on Mickeys Fun Wheel which is a huge Ferris Wheel with gondalas which are not fixed but on a track so they move around as the wheel turns. Rachael did not find this one fun at all.

The electrical parade which used to run in Disneyland then went to Disneyworld has made its way back to California Adventure. Again this one left the Disneyland parade for dead.

We watched the fireworks through the Golden Gate Bridge and headed back for an relatively early night. 🙂