Adventures in California

My trip to California was lovely. The journey there was uneventful and I was able to leave earlier than expected. Thursday afternoon was spent with my husband, kicking back and enjoying being together. We ate awesome Chinese food and went to bed early. Friday was going to be a very full day!

Friday was spent at the Aquarium in Long Beach. It was the most amazing place. I saw my first Sea Dragons, which are incredibly cool, and we ran around to each of the embossing machines to stamp our aquarium booklet. The seal/sea lion show was enjoyable as was the shark feeding. I had never heard of Lorikeet’s, but they had an enclosed area full of them. I’ve always loved birds and there was one Lorikeet named Penny that gave me kisses. Of course, she also had a mean streak and bit the crap out of my arm. LOL Don’t you just love birds?? The highlight of the day though was the petting pools. I touched and petted Bamboo Sharks and StingRays! (Pictures above) It was the coolest thing! Some of the StingRays were gravely on top while others were smooth all over. The sharks were smooth as well. The Bamboo Sharks lay the neatest eggs. They are in a hard case (like bamboo). In an exhibit they had pulled off part of the hard encasing and you could see the embryo in its translucent bag. We could see it moving around. We also saw the eggs that had been laid in the petting pool. We were told they would be gathered and brought in for their hatching. I bought a thimble (It has a Sea Dragon on it) like always for a memory keepsake.

Saturday we got physical! That is, we went Kayaking! We kayaked all over Naples. It is a lot of hard work and I was exhausted after we were out for 2 hours. My arms were not very happy with me. Hehe The coolest experience of the day was playing with the Moon Jellyfish (Picture above) in the bay. There is an area where there are hundreds of Moon Jellies that you can touch. They aren’t poisonous to humans. I held them in my hands and touched dozens of them. They are slimy and gooey. There is a pretty flower pattern on them that almost glows purple. We came back to the house that afternoon and enjoyed steak my husband grilled for us. We rested and watched TV until it was time for him to take me to the airport. I flew out on the midnight (12:55) flight. The upside to that was I got bumped up to first class. That is the way to travel!!

I arrived back home in Texas about 5:00 pm Sunday. It was a quick trip, but well worth it! I was able to check mark off a couple of things on my “Things I want to Do List.” The whole experience made me think of more things I would like to experience I need to add to that very list. Swimming with the Dolphins to mention one...