San Diego Part Three: Balboa Park

Pretty much everything we have done on this trip we have done on previous trips to California. I would go as far as saying has been the greatest hits of trips to California (without Alcatraz).  

Our days here in La Jolla have started the same way they did last year, a trip for coffee to the Brick and


Bell every morning and then walks down to the beach and around town (except for our side trip to Anaheim).  The only real exception is that the weather has been a little wild yesterday and today. We lucked out during our adventure yesterday the sun poked it's head out and the skies cleared if only for a little while. More on out adventure yesterday in a minute... 

Mitt Romney is tearing down his beach house down the street from the condo where we are staying and building a new home three times its size and I understand why, La Jolla is amazing. I could live here and walk the shore everyday. I love watching the seals and sea lions. Yes, sometimes the smell is disgusting, but over all La Jolla is wonderful.

San Diego as a whole is amazing. I think it is my favourite place in California that I have visited so far (apart from Disneyland, but that is not a real place).

One thing that we had not done in San Diego was visiting Balboa Park. We visited San Diego Zoo (which is in Balboa Park) last year while we were here but that was as close as we had come.

Lets just say, I was a Sour Sally when we made plans to walk Balboa Park yesterday. My legs were exhausted from a full day at Disneyland the day before, but as soon as we pulled up to the park I was happy we were there.

We walked around the magnificent park and took it all in, I was in absolute awe over the spectacular architecture. It is so hard to believe you are in the middle of a city when you are in Balboa Park!

We did not go to the Museum of Man, the exhibits looked very interesting, I am kind of hoping to go back. They were showcasing historic exhibits on beer and torture mechanisms, is it weird that I find that really intriguing? They also have Ancient Egypt exhibits; a very interesting mix.

We ended up visiting the Museum of Natural History at Balboa Park and taking in the ‘Real Pirates’ exhibit. It was very cool, we all agreed that we like that they simply focused on the adventures of the Whydah and gave some background information on pirates rather than going all over the place with various ships. If you ever see this travelling exhibit you should check it out, you even get to touch real pirate treasure, very cool!

You can also learn a lot about local natural history at the museum with their typical exhibits. We did not focus too much on the normal exhibits; we went to the Museum of Natural History in New York when we travelled there this summer. It was still a very informative and hands-on, a great place to take children.

I imagine I would spend a lot of time at Balboa Park if I lived in San Diego; it is truly a beautiful place. It is almost as if you are transported to another place while you are visiting.  I don’t think I would mind running daily if I had a place like that to run to!

Now we are off to do a little shopping in this wild weather, grab some In-And-Out Burger and hopefully a scone!

Fingers-crossed tomorrow will at least not be so windy and rainy, right now it feels as if a palm tree could come crashing down through the glass windows of the condo at any minute.

They even had an Albertosaurus!

San Diego Part Two: Letting Our Disneyside Out!

This a very fitting 200th post, a celebration of sorts in blog form! 

Yesterday we let our Disneyside out.

Yes, we got our Disney freak-on in Anaheim. Kevin’s parents gave us the amazing gift of passes to the parks for the day and my parents paid for our night at Disneyland’s Paradise Pier Hotel. I’m not going to sugarcoat this; it was probably the most expensive 24 hours of my life.

Was it worth it? Ah, hell yes! 


We checked into the hotel, made our character breakie reservations and then were on to Downtown Disney.

Lets just be clear right now, there have been a lot of white lies in the past couple of days. Not the dangerous kind, the saving money kind. The worst part is that cashiers are total enablers; during our trip to the USS Midway they convinced us that we were students.

At Disneyland they assumed we were celebrating something, Kevin said my birthday was coming up and BOOM they gave me the birthday pin. EVERYONE in the park said “Happy Birthday” to me for the next 36 hours. They gave Kevin an “I’m celebrating” button as well, which he is with his recent military news, but he refused to wear it. Princess Aurora even sent me down a “Happy Birthday” signed photo; it is embarrassing how happy this made me.

Downtown Disney is the perfect place to have a date night. We did a quick trip down, checked

 everything out and made our dinner reservations and then did something ultra-American we try to do every time we go to the States… we went to Walmart.

 

I’m kind of kidding here, but it is different. Going to Walmart and McDonald’s is something we do every time we cross the border; it is like they are on steroids in America when you compare them with their Canadian siblings.

Also, I find it super entertaining. Everything is so cheap and so large. We even managed to find old Ed Hardy clothes at the Walmart we visited in Anaheim, I’m not sure if someone was just embarrassed to be wearing Ed Hardy and ditched what they were wearing for Walmart duds or if they are really selling it. Regardless, American Walmart is a fun and cheap excursion.

Date night at Downtown Disney was great. We had our favourites at Rainforest Café (I totally hid that damn birthday button so that no one would sing to me). After our trip to the jungle we went to ESPN Zone and played the most advanced sports arcade games.

I was a little disappointed that they no longer have the hockey shoot-out hockey game, but they have all kinds of new games since we last visited.

Kevin set the daily record for the hardest pitch at the pitch cage. He got a free game for his impressive pitching and then broke his own record… twice. He struck out A-Rod!

I was not so good at any of the games, but was kind of addicted to the Quarter Back passing drill and the putting station.

Next we were onto Disney’s California Adventure and then Disneyland in the morning. We got up and did some character dining at the hotel and were greeted by Mickey and then Minnie, Pluto, Stitch and Daisy joined us. At this point cost had gone out the window, considering we had paid so much to stay the one night at the hotel. The breakfast was decent, the same as the character dining inside Disneyland at the Plaza but not worth it if you are going for the food. I learned long ago that with Disney your not paying for top-notch whatever, you are paying for the experience. When you get character dining out of the way you do not need to worry so much about lines for character experiences when you get in the park. More on this craziness later…

We arrived for our extra hour of magic in the park at 9am.  We were excited that it was an extra hour in California Adventure rather than in Disneyland because we had done that one our first trip in 2011, this gave us time to get everything in (including the new Car’s Land) in California Adventure.

We were really excited about Car’s Land; Radiator Springs was being built when we last visited. Unfortunately, during our magic hour nothing was open yet. The racer cars already had a 30-minute line and were not yet operational (remember, the park has not officially opened yet) and the fast pass machines were not open. This was the only ting we didn’t get to do during our whirlwind day at Disney.

We dominated both parks all day. We started at 9am and did not sit down more than 10 minutes, not even to eat (note: we are both paying for it today). Our day at Disney had a rough start though, one of the first rides we went on was Grizzly River Run. The last time we visited the park it was the last ride we went on, it had been closed our entire trip but we managed to get one run in. This time we got to experience it in the light. 

We have both learned a valuable lesson about me on rides; I am a total jerk. I duck whenever water is involved and hold on to whatever is near (hands, shoulders etc.) for dear life when on roller coasters. As we spun down this (what I call) flume style ride I saw that we were going to catch water from behind, so of course I ducked into Kevin so he would absorb all the water (again, I am a jerk) and BOOM fist in the face. Kevin totally (accidentally) punched me in the face. Giving me a wonky eye all day. 

Now, I am a huge fan of everything Disney. Walt Disney is in my list of heroes, but every time I visit Disneyland I am blown away by people who take it to the next level, I’m not sure how they have the ability to spend so much of their paychecks on the paraphernalia in the parks (let alone how they find mates to procreate with, that also blows my mind).

For me, I am not sure what will happen when I actually get to Disneyworld. I am a little disappointed by the amount of characters out in the park at Disneyland. We got in line to start waiting for a meeting with Merinda, it was half an hour and after two minutes we ditched. If you think that is bad the line for Elsa and Anna from Frozen was never under two hours while we were there. That is just straight crazy.

Our perfect day in the park was highlighted by a trip to Car’s Land to ride the new tire bumper cars. We were waiting in line when a two year old little girl with hair as white as mine was when I was a kid started talking to me. She was adorable and so smart! Unlike 90% of the kids in the park she was not in a stroller and she was forming full sentences. We were so unimpressed when we saw a kid about seven or eight in the hotel elevator point to the poster on the wall and ask her mother, “What dat says” (what was worse was no one seemed phased by her not being able to read or talk at all). This kid was a small blond blessing, faith in humanity restored.

Kevin started calling the little girl “Little Kate”. We boarded the ride and learned the controls for this new cool contraption; it is essentially like bumped cars without having anything but your body to steer. As soon as the ride started going Kevin made it clear he wanted to hunt down “Little Kate” and bump the crap out of her. I could offer little resistance if I wanted our tire to travel anywhere. Next thing you know we see “Little Kate”, her face lights up as she waves (I of course wave back) and then BOOM!

Our favourite food in the park, pomme frites! 

Unfortunately our day did not last too much longer at Disneyland. I think I may have hit my peak for ride tolerance, everything seemed darker and bumpier than it did last time. The entire day was spent fighting headaches and bouncing from rollercoaster/intense rides to less intense/story rides. Yup, I am turning into a big baby. After about nine hours in the parks we had enough. This was mostly my call, I felt sick the entire room home after our trip on Goofy’s Sky School rollercoaster. The entire ride home I had to fight the pukes.

With that being said, it was still an incredible day. I’m not sure what was wrong with me; I think I was just not ready for all the carby foods combined with the rides.  I am quite sad that we did not get to see World of Color (my favourite part of a day at California Adventure), but next time!

The gross sickness even interrupted something I absolutely love doing, driving down the highway listening to the radio! When we finally arrived back in La Jolla after the most expensive 36 hours of my life, nothing was open for food so we went to bed hungry. I was not impressed! There were not any real low-carb options open after 9pm!

PS. Subway does not count, it is absolute garbage… there is a sub in the States that has Fritos in it! Healthy my ass…

We sure are not going hungry tonight! We just had amazing veal chops with roasted cauliflower and sweet potatoes; and wine of course (hence the sass on the Subway rant).

My next Kate’s California Adventure blog will talk about Balboa Park and misty surf days in La Jolla!

San Diego Vacation Part One: USS Midway and Coronado

I love California; this is my fourth trip to Cali in the past three years.

The first was after graduating from StFX, we went to Anaheim to visit Disneyland.

The second was to San Fran and Napa and Alcatraz.

The third was at this time last year to San Diego. We also visited Laguna Beach and made a quick trip into Anaheim to check out a Ducks game.

This year we are back in San Diego, we did again go back to Anaheim and visited Disneyland again.

But, lets stop in San Diego first. We did a lot in our first couple of days, we visited Kevin’s favourite stop in San Diego the Midway and then spent the afternoon at one of my favourite places, Coronado.

The USS Midway Museum is very interesting, now that we know Kevin will swearing in to the military in a couple of weeks it makes it even more special. This is the second time we have visited the Midway and some of same Veterans who served on the Midway were there telling the same stories that they were telling last year when we were visiting.  We did see some new parts of the Midway, but we did not spend as long on the ship as we did last time.

I clearly did not learn a key lesson from the Midway last year. If you ever go to the Midway do not wear a free flowing dress or skirt, I imagine something a little tighter fitting would be better than my choice of dresses. But, with all of the vertical latter type staircases it is not prime dress wearing space.

There are a lot of great photo-ops on the Midway and lots to learn. There are free audio tours so you can walk around and pick and choose what you want to listen to depending on the zones. Also, you can take guided tours through different areas of the ship and check out discussions on the deck about varying elements of working on an aircraft carrier.

I think the USS Midway is a great place for everyone to check out at least once; it also has a great view of one of my favourite statues, Unconditional Surrender or “The Kiss” as some people call it. I absolutely love it! Lots of people say it is a must to take a kiss photo at its feet. Unconditional Surrender is a gigantic recreation of the iconic photo taken at Times Square in New York.

After visiting the Midway we took the terrifying bridge over to Coronado. I love Coronado, you may recognize the incredible Hotel del Coronado from the Marilyn Monroe film ‘Some Like It Hot’. You can feel all of the history when you walk through the door to the hotel; the beach is absolutely incredible as well.

If you are a big Marilyn Monroe fan you will love Hotel del Coronado, it is a Mecca of Marilyn (in a classy way).

I love roaming around Coronado; it is like taking a trip back in time. We have taken a little break from keto living over the past couple of weeks in preparation for a big cut coming up when we get back to B.C., so we enjoyed milkshakes at a 50s style Diner (jukeboxes and all)!

Coming up in my next blog all the details on the most expensive night of my life and turning into a five year old at Disneyland.

The Day We Almost Went To Sea World

If you were to have asked me 12 months ago while I was in San Diego if I wanted to go to Sea World I would have without a doubt told you that I would have loved to visit the park. On a student’s budget we had to pick our attractions and we chose to visit the San Diego Zoo with it’s new baby pandas instead of Sea World. For $84 a person it was a little much to do in addition to the Zoo.

A lot can change in a year. Even six months ago I would have been incredibly positive about a place that us 90s kids have incredible memories of, even if only through commercials. Growing up on the East Coast of Canada our regional CTV channel gave away Sea World trips all the time, it was engrained in us that the splash zone was a première family destination.

Imagine this in Little Kate's mind with all the added greatness of the 90s. 

Back in autumn the documentary ‘Blackfish’ had a screening in Nelson and the lovely ladies from 1035 The Bridge told us all about the incredibly emotional experience they had sitting at the theatre watching it. I was a little reluctant to get onboard with their contempt for Sea World, I had just visited the incredible Vancouver Aquarium where I was amazed by the important rehabilitation work the staff there does and found it hard to believe their claims from the doc.

Once we determined we would be vacationing back in San Diego again this winter Sea World started coming up again. I flip-flopped on whether to watch ‘Blackfish’ or not. But, with increasing activity on my Facebook and Twitter feeds about the documentary I knew it would come down to at lease watching ‘Blackfish’.  I was surprised at some of the people I know; people who do not normally vocalize their strong opinions via social media, venting online about their feelings towards Sea World and their sympathy for the killer whales being held in captivity.

So it came down to the wire, I put off watching ‘Blackfish’ because (to be honest) I have not been in the mood to be any sadder than need be in real life. Last night, my boyfriend and I were debating going to SeaWorld; to be honest with you I wanted to go. Forget the price of the day; I wanted to go for the show, for the rides and to see the animals.

Yes, I had been debating going and not posting the pictures online to avoid the ridicule from friends for going after having the resources to watch ‘Blackfish’ on Netflix and choosing not to (or worse, watching the doc and going anyways).  But, late into the night while we were trying to plan our day I put it on anyways.

Taken from Blackfish's Wiki page. 

I must say that I was absolutely horrified; ‘Blackfish’ brought me to tears.  We watched the entire film and had both decided early on that we would not be going to Sea World today. I am trying to take ‘Blackfish’ with a grain of salt, but just seeing the videos of the killer whales looking so unhappy is what made my decision for me.

Yes, there are moments when the killer whales do seem very happy; but they are outweighed (to me) by the moments when the killer whales are sad. What makes it worse is seeing the aggressive nature of the whales in captivity towards each other, I do not question that the Sea World trainers treat the whales well. I believe that they love the animals and respect them, as they should; but I do think that the bigwigs at Sea World are less concerned about the well being of the whales (mentally).

I am not trying to be preachy, I am not saying that you should not go to Sea World; I just wanted to voice my opinion on the whole ‘Blackfish’ saga in light of all of the hoopla that has come out in regards to concerts being cancelled and boycotts of the park.

I am totally for organizations like the Vancouver Aquarium that rehabilitate and learn from the animals in their care. I am against visiting Sea World at the current time until they can find a more humane way to do business.

As a kid who grew up on the Atlantic Ocean I learned about our oceans at an early age and to respect what you do not understand. Our planet’s oceans (and lots of the creatures that live within it) are some of the great mysteries we have left, unfortunately killer whales are a large, majestic mystery that we need to learn more about (apparently) even if it means not having kitschy interactions with them.

Even though Sea World is down the road for us right now, I think I will wait to see killer whales in their habitat, in their communities and take in their “culture”. Better for me to suffer on a cold boat than for them to suffer indefinitely in what sounds like killer whale prison.

Again, I will revisit the idea of going to Sea World in the future if their practices change or new unbiased information comes to light but right now my opinion leans towards staying away and taking the chance to see them in the wild.

February 14, 2014 -- Happy National Donor, Ferris Wheel, National Cream-Filled Chocolates and (of course) Valentine's Day!

Like I said during my show, February 14th is not just Valentine's Day it is also National Donor Day, National Ferris Wheel Day and National Cream-Filled Chocolates Day. Something in that very short list of things is bound to make you happy so celebrate! :)

With that being said, I am a fan of Valentine’s on a purely commercial level.

Yes, I like presents. I like flowers. But, I love food. Especially when it is still expectable to be mid-winter bulking for warmth.  I do totally believe that people should celebrate their love everyday, but I am more on board with giving and getting gifts whenever possible.  Yes, I am a sucker for pink and red around this time of year (I'm normally more of a blue, green, yellow type of girl).

Now, this was my first Valentine’s Day on-air (outside of school), so I wasn't sure what kind of reaction my show would garner. I was worried about being too heaving on the V-Day talk and one break I had written had be really worried. I had changed it a few times to try not to exhibit a bias stance, that women are the only ones who should be getting gifts on February 14^th. This is not the case, this year my boyfriend were a on a budget for the big day and saving up for our vacation next week. We made an agreement, nothing elaborate in the gift department and we could get whatever we wanted from the grocery store and have it for supper.

On top of our massive meal, fondue came into the equation. Cheese fondue.  I agreed to provide him with a copy of the long-awaited South Park: Stick of Truth video game as his gift and he agree to order the parts for my broken iPhone and repair it. A pretty good trade, am I right?

Observations from February, 14 2014:

-Who knew cheese fondue spells like cheese? I sure didn’t. Not the most romantic smell at our plastic card table.

My beautiful flowers even have a tiny teddy! (Arrested
Development joke)

-Truly feel your Valentine’s Day flowers are safe on your drive home you need another person to hold them and hate you. I realized this as I packed my car for the journey home, I felt like I was driving with a newborn baby in the car.

-When you're sitting at your desk later than expected on Valentine’s Day you really start to wish your boo would have sent something like a heart shaped pizza or pretzel… or maybe even a cookie. Being fueled by boxed chocolates does not a headache-free V-Day make.

-Netflix knocked it out of the park with the release of Season 2 of House of Cards on the ‘day of the heart’ and they made it all worth it in the season opener. Well played Netflix, you will forever be a part of myValentine’s Day history. And, I am so okay with it.

-My parents are super awesome for giving their lovely children gifts for Valentine’s Day. I have learned that not many parents do this. I think my parent’s may have just given us gifts for putting up with their anniversary shenanigans (and annual mid-February anniversary party), our stuff always ended up being used during their parties. What was worse about it was being forced to watch the parties (they recorded them on video) and seeing things like your uncle wearing your princess bicycle helmet and slurring his words. I could write a whole blog on that on its own so we can leave to your imagination, its WAY funnier than you can imagine. Yes, the slate was always wiped clean with lovely gifts.

-People love talking about Valentine’s Day, I received more calls than ever during a show and social media totally was overwhelmed by V-Day talk. Love it or hate it, it seems to me like people love to vent their excitement or hostility for Valentine’s Day.

I don't think there is anything wrong for liking getting presents; I fully appreciate the commercialization of Valentine’s Day. To me though the best part of the day is the food. We have always had legendary Valentine’s Day suppers and this year was no exception!  (we left our phones off all night so I didn't take food pics)

-      - A cheese fondue platter to get it all rolling.

-       -Olive oil roasted cauliflower.

-     -  Garlic butter and pepper pan-fried steak ( we do not have a bbq)

It was awesome. We skipped on dessert for vacation’s sake.

I hope you had a just as happy Valentine’s Day (and got lots of presents)!

"Happy Valentine’s Day, Let’s Watch House of Cards"

Poster from:
http://mashable.com/2014/01/06/house-of-cards-season-2-trailer-2/

That phrase will be the first thing my boyfriend says to me when I get home from work Friday night. Over the weekend we slayed the entire first season of the Netflix hit and we can’t wait for more. Critically acclaimed and praised by all of our friends, we couldn't miss out on House of Cards and quickly became addicted to it over the weekend. We waited to watch it because we didn't want to develop Game of Thrones syndrome (a condition that leads to anxiety week to week/month to month when waiting for the next episode or season of a show).

Consumed is the appropriate word for our viewing of House of Cards Season One, there really is no other way to watch it. I am a bit baffled by the experience though because all of the characters are so hard to like and I honestly down-right hate some of the key players in the show. Frank Underwood and Zoe Barnes being my two least favourite and Claire Underwood and Peter Russo being my favourite characters, everyone in the show is pretty messed up but I think it is interesting the things I can forgive or understand from Russo and Mrs. Underwood. I do respect Frank Underwood, but I do not trust him for a second, I flip-flop on my opinion on him. Zoe Barnes I straight up hate, from facial expressions to her actions on the show; to me there is no redeeming quality for Ms.Barnes. And, I have no clue what Doug Stamper is up to; I am still torn on his objectives and long-game. 

Holy crap, note to Kate: HOUSE OF CARDS IS A TV SHOW, CALM DOWN!

Yes, I maybe a little too into it right now. But, really isn't this exactly what a TV series aims to do to an audience?

I like that I am conflicted about the characters on House of Cards and that I have these emotional responses to them, to me that really is the goal of entertaining people; to give them an experience that takes them away from their lives and transports them to whatever. For example on my radio show, on my radio show if I can get you to tune out your life’s problems and think/care about Olympic Athletes hooking up thanks to Tinder in Sochi; boom a job well done. If I can make you laugh, even better.

I can’t wait to consume House of Cards Season Two this weekend. Seriously, don’t call or text me… I will be busy. Props to Netflix for backing this amazing show, I can’t wait to see what Netflix comes out with next. Also, Orange is the New Black is also a great Netflix original series for those of you who would rather a laugh.

Here is a preview for Season Two of House of Cards:

This blog would not be complete without some great follow-up links:

For tips and advice on how to get ahead at work from House of Cards click here.

For House of Cards themed Valentine's Day cards click here.

http://mashable.com/2014/02/12/house-of-cards-valentines/

Viral Video Gone Wrong: Life Size Chucky

A couple of weeks ago I presented you with a viral video that was made to promote a upcoming horror movie called ‘Devil’s Due’. That video was terrifying, this viral video is just wrong.

I think the team promoting the new Chucky movie was severely misguided by pulling out this campaign. I have a feeling that some of these people are acting, no matter the video is not as funny as the man laughing in the background.

I think this video really crossed the line by having Chucky chase after these poor people; someone could have been seriously hurt. I hope they are all actors.

Is it too sick and twisted? I am just a huge baby? Let me know what you think!