SeaWorld Trip

We went to SeaWorld San Antonio yesterday, and damn, was it hot. Sweltering heat and high humidity made for miserable conditions; our day consisted of hopping from shade to shade to air conditioned building - anything less would have meant sunstroke. I bought a frozen lemonade, and it had already started melting before I could pay for it.

But we still had a lot of fun. Having my son along changed the theme park experience completely. I'm typically a roller coaster nut, but I found that I had no desire to go on them (and there are two really good ones there - the Great White and the Steel Eel), because I just wanted to spend the day doing things that my son could do. Least of all did I want to subject him to one of those long, hot line queues with no payoff.

So, we attended the fantastic water shows. He absolutely flipped out when he first saw the dolphins jumping out of the water, pointing with both hands, eyes wide open, and making insistent grunting noises. Nothing like a child's excitement to help you rediscover your sense of wonder at the natural world.

And his cheerfulness was infectious. I noticed other patrons sitting near us watching his reaction to the performances and smiling. More than once, they commented about how happy and excited he seemed - his antics had added to the enjoyment of the show for them, as well.

The only attraction we went to that wasn't a sea life show was R. L. Stine's Haunted Lighthouse (featuring the acting talent of Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Michael McKean, and "Weird Al" Yankovic - you'd think it would be better than it is with all that talent!). We sat in the back so that if it turned out to be too much for him, we could leave. Quite the contrary - the boy fell soundly asleep to the sound of ghostly noises, tense music, thunderstorms, and screams of terror. That's my boy - he'll be a home haunter for sure!

So, it was hot as Hell's kitchen, but it was totally worth it. It was a big day for my son, too - he slept long through the night and let us sleep in until well after nine o' clock. Thank you, SeaWorld!