California Road Trip Part 6- "What part of SOAK don't you understand?"

Happy May everyone! I'm so behind in blogging but hope to try and catch up reading all of your posts this week!

We delivered May Day baskets again this year to neighbors (see last year's post) ...and after weeks of rain and cold, enjoyed sunshine and warm temperatures in the 70's the last few days...with the scent of blossoms in the air!
It doesn't get much better than that...and for these winter-weary Oregonians, we just had to be outside!
Now, at last...on with the story...(and don't let the length scare you- I think it just might give you a little smile - at my expense!)

(Be sure to scroll back for the previous chapters...)




We didn't arrive at Sea World until early afternoon. (Which was fine, since it was a bit chilly on this particular day and every degree it could reach for the high made a difference!)
Our two families enjoyed looking at all the exhibits, but we were were all especially excited about the dolphin show...

So, we all headed over to the stadium at show time...but as we filed in, I noticed that my nephew, his wife and their five year old little girl weren't following us to our bench.

"We're going to sit way up there..." he stated, pointing to some location so far into the sky that I had to squint to see it.
"We've sat in the splash zone before," he went on to explain. "but you guys go ahead..."

His two boys, however- real men in the making that they were- wanted to sit with us.
Now what fun is it sitting at the top of the bleachers when you can get a nice little splash from a real dolphin, I wondered...but at least his boys weren't going to wimp out on us!
So hubby and I, our two girls and their two boys squeezed onto the bench about five rows up from the ground. I glanced around at the words on the seats which actually read,
"Soak Zone"
but dismissed them good-naturedly.

Soon, a singer with a guitar came out and proceeded to belt out a cute little ditty...something about "if you're sittin' in the soak zone, you're going to get soaked..."
I smiled, laughed and tapped my foot with the music.

Cute little song...

Finally, the show started!

Honestly, it was so exciting to see those dolphins up close and personal! They were amazing to watch with their grace and energy...


One of the dolphins did swim by and gave us a playful splash....too fun! I could handle this...

And look at it with it's trainer saying hello...aren't they cute!


But after a little while more into the show, another dolphin had orders to come by and "playfully" splash us.

However, this one seemed to have a vendetta.

After causing a huge tsunami to land blast us, this didn't seem to be good enough. This rogue dolphin continued to pummel us as we ducked for cover, frantically trying to protect cameras and keep from drowning at the same time.
As salt water burned my eyes, I noticed that my poor youngest was crying...
Uh-oh...would she now fear all sea creatures for the rest of her life?

My husband, who was on the end, began leading the way to higher ground...and we all followed numbly.
I felt as though we were some pathetic people from a disaster movie as we gasped and sputtered up the steps of the bleachers- before finding refuge about ten feet higher, nearly collapsing on the steps.

We calmed our littlest one down (who later forgave the crazy dolphin) and we proceeded to watch the rest of the show.
Others had escaped up there, too...and all of us huddled there, relieved to be out of blow-hole shot of Flipper's evil twin.


(Don't let that cute, innocent face above fool you!)

Afterwards, my husband went back to the car...far, far away into the mass of vehicles...to retrieve some dry shirts and things for us.
Good wife that I am, I waited patiently for him to return in my soggy and shivering state...
So you can imagine how I felt when he came back with dry clothes for the girls (thankfully!) but didn't see my sweatshirt.
I kept my temper- honestly...
But still, there was no way humanly possible that I could survive any more time out there wearing a soaked shirt in 59 degrees.

So there was only one thing to do.

Buy a Shamu sweatshirt.

And you can bet my normally very frugal husband didn't dare even to bat an eyelash at the $25 price...perhaps my lips were turning blue so he didn't have the heart.

And of course,
nothing says fashion and elegance like a big ole Orca whale in front of your tummy.

But the happy ending in this day is that all of us actually had a really great time.

(On the left, my husband and R.'s oldest before the show, blissfully unaware of the watery fate that awaited us all...)






And speaking of Shamu, his show was tremendous!



Isn't it nice that digital cameras have a zoom lens and you can sit... oh, say...really far away?

Anyway, in all seriousness...what I enjoyed probably more than anything on this weekend, was seeing my children and my nephew's children together. These cousins that rarely get to see each other, completely bonded during this visit.

I might add here that not only our my nephew and niece in law extremely hospitable, but their children also were so incredibly friendly and polite- as well as being fun-loving. It was truly a pleasure being around all of them!

Knowing that my nephew's family would soon be relocating across the country didn't exactly make parting that evening very easy for any of us.


After lots of hugs all around, we all felt a little misty...and so we said our final farewell with one, big group hug by our car within the vast parking lot, underneath the darkened sky.

In the morning, we'd be packing up and driving that long road home to Oregon.

But believe me, our trip wasn't over yet. We'd see a few amazing sights along the way...and I'll share them with you next time!

I know...no big cliff hangers this time. But the story's not completely over, trust me!