First off, I joined two of my fellow post-docs at work, Connie and Audrey, on a trip to Los Angeles to visit Universal Studios - Hollywood. Now, this is the first time I have ever visited an amusement park that is connected to movie studios. Yes, this does mean I have never been to Disneyland. Happily. :)
I didn't really know what to expect. I'm used to the good old fashioned rollercoaster-containing sort of amusement parks, so I was pretty excited about doing some screaming on stomach dropping hills, or going upside down and such. Alas, I was mistaken. There were only even 7 rides or something.
A number of the rides were well done, like the new Transformers ride and The Mummy ride. But they weren't the rollercoasters I expected. A lot more wearing of 3-D glasses and watching screens! Jurassic Park, however, was a water ride and didn't have screens, and it had big motorized dinosaurs. It was pretty freaky at the end. You totally thought the T-rex would get you before the raft went plunging down the waterfall. And the Transformers 3-D stuff was pretty awesome. I think I was actually convinced a few times that I was moving, even when I wasn't! One of the neat things is that there is a tram that will take you on a tour of the Studios and the backlots where all these sets are located for filming. Like the Europe sets. Or the New York city rows of Brownstone houses. Or the City Hall that some years and a few makeovers ago was used in Back to the Future! Pretty neat stuff, actually. Anyway, now I can say I've been! And of course, I had to be the tourist and get the picture with the Universal globe.
The next weekend I took advantage of the fact that I live next to the ocean and went with a couple gals from church (Eileen and Esther) on a whale-watching adventure! We did get lucky on our boat and we found two California grey whales, apparently on their southward migration to Mexico. They would come up for air and surface 2 or 3 times quickly and then dive back down for a longer period of time - like 4-5 minutes. We got to hang around and watch this for a few rounds before we had to head back. It was cool, however we weren't nearly as close as we were in Hawaii. Not the best picture opp, but here is a tail of one of the whales! We also saw dolphins, and pelicans, and seals, so I'd say it was a pretty good trip. Additionally, when we were coming back the Bay from the Ocean, there was this awesome boat with all the sails and such as you imagined one would have seen, say about the time they were exploring the new world. It just happened to be sailing past Point Loma when we passed it, which is this area of land that separates the Bay from the Ocean (I suggest looking at a map to get the idea!). It is the spot where Juan Cabrillo, an explorer in the 1500's, first set foot on land on the US West Coast. Therefore, the really cool old-looking ship passing Point Loma seemed rather perfect.
