Fun at Sea World

In case you were curious… October 23, 2009 was the perfect day to be at Sea World.

Sea World today was a blast. We were in right after the gates opened and out before rush hour traffic hit. We saw all that needed to be seen and rode all the rides that needed to be ridden. With great weather, short lines, and a good friend to share it all with, what more could you ask for?

I know! More random Fridays off in the future to do it all over again. 😉

This morning Erin made it very clear she is unable to start her day with out her daily coffee fix. Starbucks to the rescue!

Erin got her coffee and I ordered a Grande Awake Tea with a single pump of Pumpkin Spice. Mmmm…

It had been at least 8 or 9 years since my last visit to Sea World and since then the park has welcomed a couple of new additions. Most notably the new roller coaster Manta that opened this past spring.

Manta is a coaster you ride horizontally on your stomach. It is freaking awesome! We lucked out and were able to ride the coaster twice. Once in the morning with a decent wait and then in the afternoon with no wait. It was worth going to Sea World just to be able to ride this roller coaster. Two thumbs up!

I’ll admit riding Manta was the highlight of my day, but interacting with the sea life was a BIG plus too.

Erin and I were able to pet the Sting Rays

Get up and personal with some Dolphins

And made a couple of new friends.

At one point a snack was needed.

Erin has a mild obsession with Penguins.

A big chunk of our day was taking as many photos as possible of our flight challenged new friends.

We even saw a couple getting friendly with each other. 😉

Not awkward at all. lol

Can you believe we encountered the largest crowd at the Shark Encounter Exhibit?

It’s not even a ride, but I guess the small underwater tunnel they were shoveling the crowd through made it move kind of slow. Not worth it in my opinion.

As predicted lunch choices were limited and $$. We settled on splitting an $8 Oven Roasted Turkey Sandwich that came with a small side of Potato Salad.

I devoured my small portion way too quickly. It was NOT filling at all.

To try and compensate for the sandwich I ate the majority of the potato salad. I ate it not because it was good, only because it was there. I would loved to have purchased some fruit to go on the side but I couldn’t bring myself to pay $3.99 for a small cup of strawberries. Oh well.

After lunch we had fun doing a little bit more exploring.

Then came our grand finale – Shamu!

We left tired, hungry, and happy as clams. It was a good day.

On the way home I heard a rumor the Whole Foods was carrying the exclusive Stonyfield Pumpkin Pie Yogurt and I couldn’t pass up a chance to check it out for myself.

Boy do I love rumors!!

I didn’t even make it out of the store before trying this baby out for myself with a little Pumpkin Spice Granola from the bulk bins. (I got a little scoop that came to 32 cents!)

Wow! I really needed this. The pumpkin pie flavor wasn’t as strong as I was hoping, but the yogurt was still creamy and delectable. I was very happy to purchase a couple more to enjoy over the coming week. 😉

I was still a little hungry when I got home, but quickly fixed that problem with 1/2 a Kiwi with a slather of Naturally Nutty Vanilla Almond Butter on top.

Erin requested something mainstream for dinner and I knew just the place.

The Elephant Bar is a cute upscale chain restaurant that puts an Asian spin on classic bar food. Its decently priced and I know they have good food.

I went with simple and ordered the Soup and Salad Combo.

The soup was a Thai Chicken Coconut Curry that sounded great, but was a little bland for my taste.

The salad was a simple Mixed Greens Salad with Candied Walnuts, Blue Cheese, Carrots and a Balsamic Vinaigrette on the side.

My food ended up taking a little longer then my two other dining partners. While I waited I encouraged them to eat their food and joined them by stealing a piece of chicken, a couple of sweet potato fries and this grilled tomato coved in parmesan cheese.

*mental note – grill tomatoes at home.

When dinner came to an end so did my time with Erin. We said our good byes and promised it wouldn’t be another full year before we saw each other again. *tear I miss her already.

It has been a long day and dessert was needed. I was craving a brownie and dug in the freezer to find a left over goodie Amanda had sent me a while back.

The perfect treat to end my day with.

Tomorrow I will be walking in The Making Strides 5k and its going to be another early one.

Thank you again to all my supporters who donated in helping me reach my goal for the breast cancer awareness walk. Thanks to your help I was able to raise $270 and am happy to report my team raised close to $1500!! That’s a lot of money going to a great cause!

Remember, there’s still time to make a donation if you want to help in making strides against breast cancer.

I’m beat. Time for bed, but I do have one last thing..

Please keep the votes coming for the Sam-e Good Mood Gig!

Good Night!