San Diego Zoo

At the end of our visit Owen fell into his customary sleep.

With the sun shining on Saturday morning we set out for the brief 30 minute drive to the San Diego Zoo. While neither of us are zoo experts, this zoo seemed to be nicely condensed with no down-time between exhibits. All the exhibits or habitats are open-air which is nice, particularly when navigating crowds with a stroller.

Owen enjoying the fishies.

Some of the exhibits truly capture the native habitat.  Definitely cheaper than a flight to another continent -- although there seems to be a 2:1 ratio of people to strollers -- aka lots of strollers!

One of Ron's favourite exhibits was mama and baby hippo.  Baby hippo kept trying to elude mama but she never left his/her side.  They often were wedged together in a corner pressed up against the display glass.  We didn't get a photo of this since every kid in the part was busy inspecting them.

Owen's adapting well to the West coast culture preferring to wear his hat with some attitude.

Wuddup Dawg

The cool and sunny climate seems to keep most animals happy.  Many were busy running around or performing some act for the visitors.

The leopard was showing off running across fallen trees and climbing to the very top of trees.  It wasn't the most graceful climber often slipping and making viewers think it would plummet to the ground but the tree provided no match for its sheer strength as it made its way to the top.

The polar bear reminded everyone of its dominance on the food chain.

Then quickly realized it was too nice of a day to be rude.

The prized exhibits at the zoo are the Giant Pandas -- one a few zoos in the world to have the species on display.  It's also been the most successful are panda reproduction in captivity. Another useless fact,  the zoo grows over 40 varieties of bamboo for the pandas who are on long-term loan from China.

Red Panda

I bet you didn't know about the Red Panda who is slightly larger than your house cat.  They mostly resemble a furry-fox if you were to ask me.

Bai Yun is the mother of all giant pandas born in captivity at the zoo.  At birth they weigh 100g - 200g and grow to weigh 175-280lbs.

The zoo also grows 18 varieties of eucalyptus for the resident koalas.  They didn't seem to want to be bothered.

And we had to stop by the Urban Jungle for Julie ..

At long last, Julie's favourites the giraffes.

All in all a great day at the zoo.  We finished the day by heading back up the coast and staying at the Fairmont Newport Beach.  We only needed one more night to reach top-level at in the Fairmont which includes complimentary nights and suite upgrades -- which will be handy for our trip out West next spring. It's the oddest location for a Fairmont that we've ever seen.  Which probably contributes to its Holiday Inn rates -- perfect.

Of course before making it to the hotel we stopped for some more shopping.

Taking a breather.

We tried to sneak on the patio at R+D Kitchens, where we ate the other day, only to be told that there was a 45 minute wait.  Unfortunately Owen isn't so patient and we headed to the hotel.

Fashion Island at night

With the forecast calling for rain most of tomorrow we figured the desert would be the best chance at escaping the downfall.  Off the Palm Springs!

Working & Living Abroad

On Wednesday (until Friday) Ron had to go his client's office.  Fortunately the office is less than 5 minutes away; a welcome respite from the commute back home.

Owen and Julie had the days to themselves.  While Owen may be a tad small to enjoy the amenities at the hotel Julie had him out there partying on the splash pad regardless.  The arcades and other game rooms might be more fun for mom and dad but at least there's plenty to walkabout and see.

Grand Pacific Palisades is a family resort/timeshare gig; plenty of amenities for the kiddies.

After exhausting the hotel's entertainment they headed down to the Carlsbad Outlets. As previously mentioned the nice thing about shopping plazas or centers is that the stores are all like strip plazas back home, so there's plenty of enjoyable outdoor walking.  Of course the fact that this area of California has 360 days of sun and less than 10" of annual rain may help.

A lil snack at the outlets.

As Julie and Owen made a few trips to the outlets during the week Ron even met up us with us for lunch.  Being close definitely has its advantages that we don't get back home. And of course Daddy being back at the hotel in less than 5 minutes after he leaves the office is exciting for Owen.

Friday was one of the rare rainy days in SoCal so Julie and Owen planned to visit the Sea Life Aquarium at LegoLand since it's directly across the street.

I ain't afraid of no shark.

Owen continued his fascination for brightly coloured aquatic life since his first encounter at Harrods in London.

"Is that the fish from Deuce Bigalow?"

The aquarium wasn't huge as it doesn't try to compete with SeaWorld.  It was a perfect size for our visit and kept Owen entertained long enough until we were done and he decided to take a nap for our brief walk across the street.

Thank you Sea Life Aquarium!

Tomorrow is Saturday and the entire family is off to the world famous San Diego Zoo.

Orange County Shopping

Owen traveled lightly this trip

After check-in around 9pm we ordered up some room service and then Ron crashed.  Actually he was sleeping before the food even arrived. Brief discussions of heading down to the empty pool and hot tub quickly dissipated as the team fell asleep.

Ron got up early, easy to do when you're asleep when he was, to go for a run.  The run took him down to Lantern Bay Park and Dana Cove Park along all the marinas that host the plethora of whale-watching charters.

Dana Point Marina

After the run we got all packed up and headed out for breakfast at the hotel.

Owen was loving the temperature; even better with the fire places.

After breakfast we trucked down the hill to Dana Point to walk the same route that Ron ran earlier that morning.  Passing all the stand-up paddle boarders Ron was very tempted to ask one to borrow their boards to give it a try.  Realizing that he would probably fall into the water he decided to hold off given he had no change of clothes.

Once we reached the Dana Point Marine refuge we decided not to go walking down the rocky beach and simply headed back along the same route.

Cruising around Dana Point

Upon leaving the hotel we stole the in-room OC magazine that featured a heap of top local boutiques, many carrying local wares.  The first stop landed us in Newport Beach on Balboa Island.  Walking the main strip reminded us of our visit farther up the coast in Carmel (by-the-sea).  Small boutiques with food shops mixed in.  The two boutiques reported in the magazine were hits with Julie picking up a few pieces (even on sale) and us finishing our visit with some chocolate/caramel pretzels.  Not to shabby.  Straying from the boutique route we hit up Fashion Island which we passed en-route to Balboa Island.  Most of the shopping complexes we've seen in Cali or Florida are outdoors with the large retailers (NM, Bloomingdales, Nordstrom, Macy's) at the far end.  This makes walking around the shopping areas rather nice since you're enjoying the outdoor weather and they're typically well designed.  This area included koi ponds like the shops at Bal Harbor, FL.

Enjoying the shopping, weather and sights.

We did some minor damage shopping here and by this point had given up our plan of stopping by Salt Creek and Monarch beaches -- both flanked by hotels towering above the cliffs. 

Owen rocking his new Toms

We stayed at Fashion Mall to grab dinner at R & D Kitchen which seemed to be one of the busiest and more importantly had room on the outdoor patio and even more importantly, had heaters.  It gets cool at night.  The heaters created a nice red glow for the camera to pick up.

Owen enjoying his dinner before ours.

Despite running out of pulled pork for Ron's sandwich the recommended french dip was delicious and everyone was happy with their selections.

Since Ron needed to start work tomorrow we decided we should probably check-in to the hotel before midnight and with an hour drive ahead of us we were pushing our luck.  We jumped back on the 5 to get down to Carlsbad and settle in at Grand Pacific Palisades for the next week+.

SoCal; San Diego, La Jolla & Dana Point

Today the entire family shuttled down to San Diego to hang-out while Ron did some work.  We got off to an early start with Owen helping out on the plane.  Originally we had hoped to tack on a good number of days to the work portion of our travels but the engagement dates changed and ended up being bookended by Ron's golf trip to Myrtle Beach and Owen's baptism.

Since we're now carting around a household worth of items we're cruising in the rental SUV.  Definitely roomier than anything we have back home.  After landing in San Diego we headed over to the Gaslamp Quarter to grab some lunch.  The area is littered with bars and restaurants and even had some mid-day Halloween parties going on.  Unfortunately the first few places we hit up were between lunch and dinner.  Finally we found a craft beer joint that was still serving lunch.  Food was great, although the fish tacos the city is known for were a bit fishy, and Ron opted for an Allagash that we first discovered in Boston.

Ron tried to give him a fish taco but all he wanted was rice cereal.

Without a plan and a day and a half of free time we ditched San Diego and headed North up the Pacific Coast Highway to La Jolla.  This affluent portion of San Diego county has the highest home prices in the US.  In 2009 the average price of a 4-bedroom was over 2 million beans.  Crazy. That trivial fact aside, La Jolla Cove and the Children's Pool, name of the beach area, offers great views of the basking sea lions.

Walking in La Jolla

Sea lions basking in the sun (middle of the picture) 

Landmark from 1902.

After La Jolla we decided to continue heading North to Dana Point for the night.  En route we drove into a massive Halloween festival with kids and parents everywhere.  This was obviously Julie's dream come true and we pulled over and dressed Owen.

What up dog.

Julie, Owen and the Halloween Princess.

At the end of a long day we decided to check in at the Marriott Laguna Cliffs in Dana Point.  Not my first choice but it was late and we were plan-less -- and when the sun came back up, it turned out to be a decent choice with a great breakfast.

Owen shut it down early.

Cheerio London

Crowded sidewalks mean taking to the street on Portobello Rd

Sunday, Sep 11 -- London

We were in fairly good shape Sunday morning as Julie spent most of Saturday night packing for her and Owen. With the bulk of the work behind us we decided to head out to Portobello Market in Notting Hill. The market is actually a bunch of shops and restaurants along Portobello Road peddling everything from 'said to be' antiques to the latest in fashion from All Saints Spitafields; ending with an open air market farther down the road.

I grabbed a pair of non-antique shoes and Julie an unworn dress before reaching the end of the market.  After some lunch we headed back along Hyde Park to the hotel to finish packing up and load up in our van; merely 20 minutes late from our booking time.  Quel surprise. Apparently our driver thought the hotel made a grave error in their time estimates as he figured we would never make it in time.  Quel surprise #2 -- but not our fault.  Fortunately traffic was on our side and we made it without delay or issue.

Aboard the plane the only noteworthy occurrences were a drunk passenger that fell into the seats of other passengers and had to be cut-off by the flight attendants and changing Owen on a slippery change table in the small washrooms aboard the plane in slight turbulence with him kicking and sliding all over his messy diaper -- resulting in the dirtiest washroom (including mirror) one has ever seen.  Ultimately a package of baby wipes were called in to wipe down the entire lavatory.

Happy time.

Sleepy times.

Sleepy times.

Owen was good on the plane with a few fussy times followed by sleepy time.

The British Museum

Lunching at Eat before our British Museum visit.

Saturday, Sep 10 – London

Returning late from Paris on Friday night we had no illusions that breakfast may not be in reach on Saturday – which is how things played out.  Unsurprisingly, we decided to walk over to the British Museum.  En route we made a stop at Eat to grab some lunch and also dodge the brief rain that seemed to be a constant throughout our trip and likely London life in general.

Main entrance to the British Museum.

Arriving at the British Museum we were refreshingly reminded that national museums in Britain charge no admission fee.  Jackpot. We also downloaded the Rick Steeve’s podcast for touring the museum.  We loved Rick’s podcasts, save the terrible jokes, on previous trips in Europe.

Entering the museum from the rear we encountered the first of many stairs.  We had debated the baby carrier versus the stroller as we knew the museum would be busy but still opted for the stroller for convenience. The museum does have an elevator but it's small and extremely slow -- particularly since many able-bodied people seem to take it instead of the very manageable stairs.

Rosetta Stone

The Steeve's podcast directed us first to the Rosetta Stone.  One benefit of the Steeve's podcast is that he guides you through massive tourist sites within a reasonable amount of time.  The rosetta stone provided the key to deciphering Egyptian hieroglyphs by offering the same text in three languages.  This is the first of many objects that foreign nations are demanding to be returned.

Shortly later we encountered some more stairs, 4 very lengthy flights, which were just a few too many to carry Owen+stroller up so we decided to take turns viewing the Egyptian burial (very cool) section.  While Julie was upstairs Owen and I continued to visit the Egyptian section.  I found the artifacts interesting while Owen found them, a bit scary.

Next we hit up the Assyrian galleries which were equally interesting.

Owen decided he wanted a closer look at the reliefs -- aka he was losing his mind -- but didn't mind not having the audio tour.

Viewing the Assyrian reliefs.

Lastly we hit up the Greek galleries -- the contents of which are subject to much controversy with the Greek government fighting to get the Parthenon artifacts returned.

Strange folks them Greeks

After the museum we hit up Roti Chai for dinner. Owen was kind enough to stay asleep until the food reached our table then decided no one should eat if he wasn't.  Taking turns to walk around bouncing him we each ate our spicy Indian dishes in record speed then walked back to the hotel only a few blocks away.

Everyone's happy eating; pre-mind-losing.

All in all a good day -- definitely recommend the British Museum.