Sea World & San Antonio

I have to remind myself of something and never forget it:  Never go to an amusement park when the temperature outside is 110 degrees.

(Back at the Alamo in downtown San Antonio)


We were in San Antonio on Sunday and Monday.  We arrived late Sunday afternoon, visited the Alamo once again (my third time, the second time for Christy and the kids), and then had dinner at the famous "Riverwalk."  On Monday morning, Christy went to the USCIS office for her citizenship interview (detailed in my previous blog.)  After that, we decided to go to Sea World.

(Kyle tries to stay cool at the splash park in Sea World.)


Sea World, I should point out, has gotten insanely expensive.  Adults are $59.99, children are $49.99.  Parking is $15.  Had we paid full price for everything, we would have spent $235. Luckily, Christy was able to pick up 4 passes, plus parking for $50 (a perk from the company she works for.)

(From the Sea World aquarium, one of the few places to get relief from the heat.)


 I never went to the Sea World in San Antonio before, only the one in San Diego (when I was a kid.)  Things have certainly changed, and not just the price of admission.  It's no longer just whale and dolphin shows.  Now it's become Disneyland, with whale and dolphin shows.  The kids just wanted to spend their entire day going on rides and getting wet in the splash park, and we didn't catch any of the whale or dolphin shows.  The only show we did see was "Elmo Rocks!", which had nothing to do with the sea or sea animals.

(Christy poses withe kids inside the Sea World aquarium.)


I was perfectly content to let the kids do what they wanted, since I was in burning in an outdoor microwave the whole time.  I didn't want to spend my time walking around in the sun, or sitting in the sun watching an animal show.  We're currently in the middle of another crazy heat wave here in Texas.  In Austin, it's 106 degrees.  San Antonio was somewhere between 110 and 113.  It certainly felt like it too.  I spent most of my time just trying to stay hydrated and not suffering from sun stroke.

(The kids pose with the Penguin Man, who I imagine is very uncomfortable in that suit.)


Constantly running for shade and drinking endless amounts of water is no way to enjoy an amusement park.  Rather than having a nice memory of a family trip to Sea World, I'll only remember the heat and my fears of ending up in a hospital ER from heat stroke.  I think Sea World should offer 50% off admission on days that are over 100 degrees.  Anything over that temperature, and it's no longer an amusement park, it's a "survival park."

The Undiscovered Austin: Lake Pflugerville & Juan in a Million

                         (Lake Pflugerville)

We've now been living in Austin, Texas for just over 4 years.  It's amazing how fast time flies.  When we moved here, Kyle was only 1 year old, and Sara was only 3.  (You can see pictures of our first visit to downtown Austin in 2008 here).
                                     

                      (Lake Pflugerville at dusk.)

What's great about Austin, or any other big city as diverse as Austin, is that you are always discovering something new.  Just a few weeks ago, we found out that there was a very nice lake about 15 minutes away from our house.  I had no idea this place even existed until Christy discovered it while looking at a website called "Free Fun Austin".

                  (The Lake Pflugerville "pebble beach.")
 
                          
Unlike Lake Travis, which everyone is familiar with, Lake Pflugerville seems to be hidden away, and can only be reached by driving deep in the countryside on those small farm roads.  It has a nice, 3 mile walking trail around the lake, and a small, pebble beach area where people can swim.  We've already been to this lake about half a dozen times, but I have yet to swim there.  I'm one of those people who worry about bacteria levels in lakes like this, but I do always see lots of kids swimming there.

         (More pictures of the "beach" at Lake Pflugerville.)

We also visited a restaurant recently called "Juan in a Million", a Mexican restaurant prominently featured on the cable television show "Man VS. Food."  "Man VS Food" is a show about a guy named Adam Richman who goes to restaurants all over America, and challenges himself to eat enormous portions of food (a giant hamburger, a giant steak, a giant sandwich, etc.)  Sometimes he succeeds, sometimes not.  What's amazing is that this guy hasn't dropped dead from these challenges.  He's not even obese (a bit chubby, though).

            (Juan in a Million, located in downtown Austin)

The challenge at Juan in a Million was to eat 8 "Don Juan" breakfast tacos.  You can get an idea of just how big  one is by looking at the picture below.  Both Christy and I ordered one.  She couldn't finish hers, and although I  finished mine, I was full the entire day, and couldn't eat another bite until about 8 hours later.  This guy from Man VS. Food managed to eat 5, although the record is 8.  That's truly amazing, not to mention dangerous.  As for the restaurant itself, it was okay.  Nothing particularly special to me, so I don't really understand its popularity in Austin.  It certainly wasn't the most delicious breakfast taco I've ever eaten.  I could go on about the embarrassing nature of a show like "Man VS. Food" to the rest of the world, and how it stereotypes Americans as gluttonous slobs, but you can watch the YouTube video below and read the comments there.  There are enough comments that reflect that already.  Typical comment I see is "...meanwhile in Africa...."

    (Christy attempts to eat one Don Juan breakfast taco.)


I highly recommend to my fellow Austinites to visit Lake Pflugerville.  And to anyone eating the Don Juan breakfast tacos, I also recommend the three mile walk around the lake after you're finished.  :)


(Below: the "Man VS. Food" episode from Juan in a Million.

The First Gay President?

Newsweek had a pretty funny picture this week, picturing President Obama with a rainbow halo over his head.  The cover story is "The First Gay President."  The New Yorker features a White House, now with rainbow colored columns.

Obviously, the president isn't gay, but I think it's great that he's come out for equal marriage rights for gays.  It's been a long time coming, and this will likely go down in history as the biggest step forward since the civil rights movement of the 60's.

The haters, of course, gotta hate.  Like the racists of the 60's who didn't approve of civil rights for black people, now we have the same thing happening again.  The homophobic rhetoric is spreading all over social media. 

"God created Adam and Eve, not Adam and Steve!" someone said, bringing back a joke that I remember hearing as a kid.  Come on people, something new please.

I see this one a lot too:  "It says right there in the Bible, Leviticus 18:22, Thou shalt not lie with mankind as with womankind, it is an abomination."

Ok, fine, but you know what the Bible also forbids?  Here are just some of the things that supposedly will send you straight to hell:

Eating pork

Having a tattoo

Having a rounded haircut (?!)

Consulting a psychic

Gossiping

Wives helping out their husbands in a fight

Children cursing their parents

Getting remarried after a divorce

Working on Sunday

Eating shrimp and lobster

Losing your virginity before you get married

Just looking at this list, I already count six things that I'm guilty of.  Who can possibly say they've never done ANY of these?  Anyone?  Anyone??  (sound of crickets chirping)

You can't pick and choose Bible rules, or else you come across like a hypocrite.  I say let the gays have their rights to get married.  It's not an issue that should be voted on.  Should we really have to vote on people having basic human rights?  Give me a break.  If people in the south could vote to adopt slavery again, I'm sure it would win by a landslide.

Look, marriage isn't really this "sacred institution" the religious right claim it to be.  When you've got people like Kim Kardasian getting married for 72 days, or Britney Spears getting married for 48 hours, and you've got people like Larry King, Rush Limbaugh and Newt Gingrich marrying multiple times, it becomes something of a joke.  I know a few gay couples (one couple live across the street from us) and they've been together for what seems like forever.  It's just not right to deny these people the right to marry, while letting so many others blatantly abuse the privilege.

So...to end my little ramble today, I'm going to quote Mr. Bob Dylan, whose lyrics from the 60's seem to fit again today:

"Come mothers and fathers throughout the land

And don't criticize what you can't understand

Your sons and your daughters are beyond your command

Your old road is rapidly aging

Please get out of the new one if you can't lend a hand

For the times they are a changin'"

Video - Roger Waters - Comfortably Numb

For me, the biggest highlight of the show is "Comfortably Numb."  This crappy video I took doesn't really do it justice at all.  Even watching high definition recordings on YouTube don't do it justice.  This is something you really need to see to appreciate.  Maybe when this concert finally comes out on blu-ray, and you can watch it on a giant TV, then you can get an idea of how epic this show was.

Video - Roger Waters - Vera

When I used to own The Wall album (vinyl), side 3 was always my favorite.  It has the greatest PF song of all time (Comfortably Numb), as well as "Hey You", "Nobody Home", "Is There Anybody Out There?", and this one, "Vera", which had a pretty touching film to accompany the song.  This was the only song that I managed to record in its entirety (although the whole song only runs 1:17.)

The song is about Vera Lynn, a wartime singer during World War II.

Lyrics:

Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?
Remember how she said that we would meet again some sunny day?
Vera!  Vera!  What has become of you?
Does anybody else in here feel the way I do?

Video - Roger Waters - Another Brick in the Wall

Here's a brief video of Roger Waters performing the only hit song Pink Floyd ever had, "Another Brick in the Wall, Part 2" at the Frank Erwin Center in Austin, May 3, 2012.

Roger Waters in Austin - The Wall Returns!

Sometimes when you wish for something long enough, you may end up getting it (other than winning the lottery, of course.)  The last time I saw Roger Waters performing "The Wall" live was in Dallas, November of 2010.  I wrote a little blog entry about it back then.  There had been rumors that he would bring the show back to America again this year, and I had been hoping for a show in Austin.  About six months ago, they announced a show at the Frank Erwin Center, which is basically right in my backyard (well...20 minutes away).  The show finally arrived last night, May 3, 2012.

It was nice to have this show so close to home.  I didn't need to drive 3 hours to Dallas.  I didn't need to stay in a hotel overnight.  I didn't have to pay anyone $100 to watch our kids.  It was just a much better experience overall.

(picture above: some of the many trucks it takes to move "The Wall" from city to city.)

I didn't pay for the ultra-expensive floor seats this time around.  We paid half the price as last time, but we still had great seats, just a little farther back.  Christy told me she liked these seats better because she was actually able to see everything this time.  When you're on the floor, everyone stands up, and when you're as short as Christy is, you're pretty much screwed if you want to see anything.

(Christy, wearing her Pink Floyd "marching hammers" T shirt.)


The show was great, as expected.  There were little things added here and there that were different from the last time.  As an example, during the song "Nobody Home", Roger would sit in a mock-hotel room on the very far left-hand side of the stage, and if you were on the right, you couldn't really see.  This time, they had massive projections on the right side so you could see what he was doing.  That was a nice touch.  He also added a new song at the end of "Another Brick in the Wall, part 2", which was completely unexpected.

(Picture: Roger's message during the intermission.  It says "I would like to thank all of you who have sent in photos of fallen loved ones.  We will remember them.  -Roger)


I only took a few pictures last time, using my cell phone.  The first time I just wanted to take in the concert, and not be watching it through a camera.  I don't really understand some people who go to concerts and just sit there filming the entire thing, rather than watch it live in front of them.  To me, it doesn't make sense.  This time, though, I relented, and did film a few parts.  Not a lot, just a few.  I figured this would be my last time to see the show, so I guess I wanted a few mementos.  I'll be posting a few additional videos in the days ahead.

I'd recommend this show to anyone who likes, or even kind of likes, Pink Floyd and/or "The Wall" album.  The 2012 tour just started, and runs through July.

 (Picture above:  After the wall falls, Roger says thanks to the fans)
(Video below: The opening song of the night, "In the Flesh?")