Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Summer Vacation, Day 3

Today we went to Balboa Park.

Before leaving Hotel Chateau Grumpé I was looking for online deals, and found this smokin' one:

(click to enlarge)






As a kid growing up here, Balboa park was always one of my favorite places. There are many awesome museums, and it's sad we only had time for a few. We did the science, natural history, and airplane ones.

Kids love dinosaur stuff, and they have lots of good ones at the natural history museum. They even have a display of this planet's all-time ultimate monster, Megalodon.





I don't care how big a dinosaur fan you are. This thing was the stuff of nightmares, more so than anything that ever walked the land. It was between 50-70 feet (16m-20mg) long, and its jaws exerted a bite force of 8 tons per square inch (5 times as powerful as Tyrannosaurus Rex).





Let's look at this graphic: you see the little green fishy at the bottom? That's a modern Great White Shark (i.e. Jaws). And the violet thing above that? The modern Whale Shark, biggest fish in the world. And the big gray thing at the top? That's Megalodon. The red thing is a smaller estimate of Magalodon. And, in case you missed it, that little blue biped in the lower left corner is you. Or in this case, a light snack. Good thing Megalodon died out 1 million years ago, huh?

I hope you're all taking notes, we'll be having a short quiz later.

Mid-day we took a break from the museums and went out to lunch.

My Mom is an avid bird person. She has bird feeders all over her yard, and is perennially filling them with seed and food scraps. She's known to take stuff home from restaurants and dinner parties just to feed the birds. The food attracts little birds, which then attract raptors, neighborhood cats, and bobcats. Some days she has a whole food chain going in her yard.

At lunch Craig and Marie got sandwiches, and (as usual) didn't eat their crusts and left some fries. My Mom reached over and grabbed them. She put them in a napkin, and stuffed it in her purse.

Dr. Grumpy: "Mom, what are you doing?"

Mom Grumpy: "They're for the birds."

Dr. Grumpy: "Ma, just leave them out here on the table. There are pigeons and seagulls everywhere here."

Mom Grumpy: "They're for MY birds."

Dr. Grumpy: "So you're going to take bread crusts back to the hotel, pack them in a suitcase, fly a few hours back to Grumpyville, and then feed them to the birds in your yard?"

Dad Grumpy: "Ibee, don't argue with her on this. I've tried."

Craig: "Hey, does my hair look okay?"

In the afternoon we hit the Reuben Fleet Science Museum. When I was a kid, this was my favorite place on Earth. Their theater was the first one I ever went to with a REALLY BIG SCREEN that simulated motion, and a lot of my interest in space started here. And the science museum is cool, too. Some of the exhibits are the same ones they had when I was kid, showing how timelessly cool interactive stuff can be.

They also have a "hurricane machine" where you lock your kids in a small room, plug in $2, and it subjects them to an 80 mph wind for a few minutes. Frank and Marie cackled hysterically during it. Craig screamed it was messing up his hair and WHAT IF SOMEONE FROM HIS SCHOOL IS HERE AND SEES HIM LIKE THIS!!!

Later we took the kids over to the park's play area. After a while the kids disappeared. I’d just started looking for them when they suddenly showed up, each carrying 2-3 empty bottles of hard liquor. Frank explained that they saw them behind the bushes, near a sleeping man, and wanted to help keep the park clean. I had them put them in the trash and thanked heavens for Purell wipes.

As we were walking away Craig reached under another a bush and pulled out a bong. He asked me what it was, and I told him it was for smoking and to put it back.

I think I'll sign off now, because we're at some restaurant with the extended family here. The waiter keeps typing on his iPad, and I suspect he's blogging about me typing on my iPad while I try to ignore my inebriated uncle who keeps ogling the hostess. Who's probably blogging about him on her iPad.

22 comments:

The Observer said...

And I am laughing with tears running down my face while reading your blog on my iPhone...

Thatgirl said...

Think how much cooler Shark Week would be if Megladon was still around.

Also, I hope your mom's birds appreciate her!

Alex Dreamz said...

Megalodon vs. Giant Octopus (yes, I like B movies) - shark jumps out of ocean and eats commercial plane that just happens to be cruising by.
PS At least it wasn't sharps they found?

Mrs A said...

oh boy, lots of new things to find when out in the park! My other half and son are in the usa now, having a fab time, hope you enjoy your time on vacation!

myoclonicjerk said...

Oh! Please go to old town and have some good mexican for me. I miss that area!

Should we assume that Craig has a Justin Bieber haircut?

Grumpy, M.D. said...

Myoclonic Jerk- Sigh. Of course.

Anonymous said...

Justin Bieber haircut, ah, no wonder :D

ER's Mom said...

My wish came true - you are having an awesome vacation AND blogging about it. :)

EDNurseasauras said...

You are sounding eerily relaxed. Enjoy

Anonymous said...

Sigh, San Diego never changes! The best surfing & beach (la Jolla shores), the best fish tacos (pacific beach), the best family beach with top gun flyovers (Coronado), the best burgers (in-and-out), the best zoo, and the worst VA cared-for homeless drunken and drugged population!

jimbo26 said...

I'm saying " thank you " on my iPad . [ bg ] .

Captain Foulenough said...

Came here to celebrate the awesomeness that is Mega Shark vs Giant Octopus, but AlexDreamz beat me to it. Check out its majesty.

Anonymous said...

Sounds as if you're going to need a vacation when you get home!

Anonymous said...

Your son's hair obsession makes me laugh. When my brother was his age, he was weird about his hair, too. More so than my sister and I were. That was back in the early '90's and he managed to get my mom to buy those big tubs of hair gel. He would literally goob that stuff all over his head and would get really upset if my sister or I made fun of him or "messed up" his hair.

Mockingbird said...

Please Ms. Grumpy, remember to feed the coastal chickens.

Anonymous said...

Somewhat on-topic, Terra Nova is coming out on Fox this Fall. It looks like it is set in a prehistoric jungle environment for now. Maybe in a few seasons they'll branch out towards the ocean?

Anonymous said...

Can you get a hurricane machine installed in your house?

Anonymous said...

you don't like miracle whip?

Grumpy, M.D. said...

I hate it.

PA Honeybee said...

I love Balboa Park! I always was fascinated going through the different museums, learning about the airplanes, fueling my interest in icthyology despite my career in pharmacology-much safer I think, theoretically. For the record, I HATE Miracle Whip too. Good stance, good stance. HaHa.

Meghan said...

Ha ha, I read a novel once upon a time that posited the theory that megalodon still exists deep in places like the marianas trench, and causes the occasional shipwreck

ASM826 said...

Meglodon might still be out there. How would anyone know? Big ocean.

 
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