Nelson's travel blog to Obamaland

Breakfast with Shamu - or a Killer Whale a lot like Shamu

On the 21st of May, Scarlett, my stepdad Craig, my mum and myself went to Seaworld in San Diego. At Seaworld we first went to have breakfast with Shamu. Unfortunately Sahmu is dead so they have another Orca there called Courtney, she is the biggest and oldest Orca Whale at Seaworld. She is over 40 years of age. So at breakfast with Shamu, we had a table next to the rope gate, on the other side of the gate was a gigantic pool in width and length. So while you ate your breakfast you could see the giant Orca Whale doing tricks with a tiny human.

Once we had finished breakfast we went to look at the dolphin exhibit but that was closed down as was the shark exhibit. 30 seconds later, Scarlett my sister threw a tantrum. She really wanted to see the sharks and dolphins.

We all then hurried off to see the Manatees to stop Scarlett from crying. Craig had gone off to explore and Scarlett had stopped crying. When Craig came back he said that Mum and I were going swimming with a white artic whale at 1.30. My mum went white in the face with excitement and I was so happy I could faint. Scarlett said , Mama, Elmo. There was a Sesame Street play area. When we got there it was a wet area so we got Elmo Swimmers. We played there for about an hour. P.S., it was great.

Finally the time came to swim with the Beluga Whales. The trainers came to pick us up. Then they led us to a room in which we could interact with a real Walrus. Then they said to feed the Walrus, he had very poor table manners! Anyway, I fed him a fish, it was pretty cool.

Then we went to our change room to put on our Wet Suits. When everyone had put them on we went for a swim with the whales. When we got in , I discovered how cold the Artic water can be, it was freezing. They live in water that is about 5 degrees Celsius. I patted them and played with both the whales, I fed them some fish, and it was just amazing. The trainer taught us some hand signals, and I learnt how to get the whale to make noises through it's blowhole and also how to splash people. I managed to get the whale to splash mum. It was amazing. I think that that was the best day ever for me and my family

Universal Studios

As the car doors opened I saw the Red Carpet. It was like a dream as I walked down, no I'm kidding, it's like a walking down a plain red carpet, because, well,,, that's what it is. But it does lead to the Ticket Box, so it counts for something.

Once we had finished getting our tickets we went to see the rides. First we saw the Simpson's ride, remarkable how similar Craig is to Homer. Craig and I started the 5 minute wait. We came early so the queues were short. As we walked through the small queue we watched numerous scenes from the Simpson's TV Show. After 10 minutes of waiting - clearly the timetable was wrong - never trust the timetable! The ride began, we were told a crazy murderer was on the loose and we were all about to die because he had destroyed the track. Now even though we were just bouncing around in the same spot in front of a big screen it felt really real. Very cool! Worth a 20 minute wait, no more than that you understand...

Then we found the Jurassic Park Riverboat ride. This ride had no wait at all, but worth at least an hours wait. We were very lucky. Mum and I went up a giant hill in a hard plastic/ rubber riverboat. Then we entered the Jurassic Park, the first dinosaur was a friendly herbivore. Next we saw numerous smaller baby herbivores dinosaurs. Next we made a wrong turn saw about 50 scary dinosaurs and then there was a gigantic Tyrannosaurs Rex. That was really scar!. Lucky for us we got away!

After the Jurassic Park Ride, we found the Mummy's Revenge Ride. AS soon as I told Craig, we were off, there was no wait so were pretty happy. That ride though isn't worth going on at all, it is a bad copy of the Indiana Jones ride. So that was all the rides we could find, so Craig, Mum Scarlett and myself went for a walk. Then Craig found the Curious George play area then Scarlett saw it and she was off. So Mum and I went to look at the stands. Then Craig and Scarlett came out of the play area. So we went to on the Tours of the Stars, we went through tons of movie and tv show sets, including King Kong and Desperate Housewives. Skull Island was only about 20 metres max in size. After it was over we found Curious George wandering around and Scarlett ran over to give him a big hug. Next we saw Dora the Explorer and Diego, Scarlett hugged Dora and gave Diego a kiss, then we left for the Hotel. Scarlett and I fell asleep in the car. I think Universal Studios needs to make some new rides and some more places for Toddlers.

Disneyland

On the 18th of May it was the first day of my Disneyland experience .All my family were awake and ready to go so walked down to Disneyland . We were all very excited, especially Scarlett and me. I told Scarlett about Mickey Mouse and Minnie, and for some reason, for the rest of the holiday she kept calling Mickey, "the Mouse in the House", but then she's only 2.

We got our tickets and started our adventure for the next three days.

Because it was going to be crowded, we had planned to attack the rides separately,
Mum and I raced for Splash Mountain, which is a water roller coaster based on Braer Rabbit. The ride was great and both Mum and I got wet.

We then went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, which was filled with real pirates, dogs and treasure....just like the movies. We moved along in a pirate boat in the water, falling down waterfalls into the dark with the voices of pirate ghost saying "Dead men tell no tales".

Scarlett was a bit scared but we all got out OK.

Craig and I then ran to the Haunted Mansion. Where you are locked in a room without windows and doors. There are 4 pictures which begin to stretch toward, and realise that they are dead.

A voice echoes around the room saying "there are no windows, and no doors, and that there is only one way to get out, by doing it my way".....becoming a ghost!

Suddenly a wall slides open and we move along a scary hallway and jump into a moving lounge and explore the Haunted Mansion. But we are not alone.... We are joined by a Ghost hitchiker...eee...owww...ooo.!

The next day we get up early and hurry back. We decide so I can ride the fast rides that
Scarlett and my Mum would ride the smaller rides, like Dumbo and the tea cups. While Craig and I went on all the roller coast rides.

Craig and I raced to the front of the queue for the Indiana Jones ride, which was exciting, bumpy, dark and mysterious. You ride in Safari car in search of gold and treasure, driving really fast, as scary props drop in front of you.

we then ran to Splash Mountain, and Craig Lost his hat when we went over the waterfall. It was so funny.

We then ran to Big Thunder. Craig was a bit upset because he lost his hat, but we only had three more rides, to go. The queues were getting longer. But finally we climbed aboard Big Thunder which was like an old fashioned steam train, except it was a roller coaster. And as you went round corners you could wave your arms in the air. Weeeee....!

The next ride was the Matterhorn. Even Craig couldn't remember which Disney movie this ride was in (and he should know because he's so old). We queued for what seemed like hours, and the ride was a bit boring except for the Yeti which kept trying to jump on our bobsled.

The final ride was Space Mountain, we queued for 55 Minutes. However this was the best ride.

You climb aboard a rocket ship and fly around the mountain in the dark, except for small shining stars off in the blurred distance. You go round and round swiftly and fast. It was definitely worth the wait.

We joined up with Mum and Scarlett to go back to hotel for a swim and some lunch. We later went back to Disneyland that night and had a Western BBQ dinner with Woody and Jessie from Toy story where we had Ribs, Chicken, Corn and Baked Beans.

Our last day at Disney I swapped Craig For Mum and we set out to do the Roller coasters.

Mum gets a bit scared, that's why I took Craig. But Mum said she could handle it.

So we went on Big Thunder which Mum loved.

We did a few more rides, and finally went to Sleeping Beauty's Castle. Where we bought Scarlett a Princess Dress, with Shoes, sceptre and crown to match.

Then we we had to go, because we had to drive to San Diego. I was sad, these were the three best days of the holiday and my life.

My birthday in the states

When I woke up that on the 12th of may 2009 I really didn't know it was my 9th birthday. Until Mum said Happy Birthday. 5 minutes later I got a call from my Dad and his girlfriend Eilish .Dad and Eilish sang me "Happy Birthday"and wished me happy birthday then said goodbye.After that Mum and Craig sang me happy birthday and gave me my presents.I got some body cream and perfume,a new pair of runners from Gap,headbands more!Then we all got dressed for breakfast .We went to a cafe at Stimson Beach called the Parkside Cafe.they have lovely food there but the down side it's an hour away from San Francisco.Once the long drive was over .We walked into the cafe then found a table. We all looked at the menu a waitress came by then we ordered our breakfast. When it came out I bolted for the bacon on my plate it's delicious there.After we had finished breakfast we went to the park across the road it was a small park with old and rusted metal.I played on the monkey bars because Scarlett my sister can't play on she's to little.So Scarlett happily played on the slide.
After we all got bored of the park we went in the car and started the drive to the Jelly Belly factory. Scarlett and I fell asleep in the car about 1/2 an hour later, when we woke up we were in a small shopping centre in the middle of nowhere. Craig returned to the car and said to me that the Jelly Belly factory was still a hour a way so he proposed an alternative - going to the Ghiradelli Chocolate Factory. So he got back into the car and we drove to the Chocolate Factory. When we got there, it was just a nice chocolate shop and an Ice Cream Shop - Ghiradelli. So we went into the Chocolate Shop and bought a couple of things and then we left to go to the Cupcake Shop. Scarlett and I got a cupcake each then we left for the Hotel and relaxed for the rest of the day.

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