Unda da Sea Part I

A Quick Intro

It is easy to develop preconceived notions regarding basically anything. It's human nature to judge things with or without the facts. Sometimes, however, those quick appraisals can be proven completely wrong. I'm not waxing philosophical here, I'm talking about basic things like...the time I thought I was ordering chocolate chip ice cream at that strip mall in Honduras because that's what it looked like but then it turned out to be Rum Raisin which sounded disgusting but was actually gloriously delicious; or the time that I thought I would hate a space-age show with a Western feel to it--but then gave it a shot and ended up being terribly outraged that Firefly was cancelled because it was completely excellent! You know, things like that (and yes, sometimes it is necessary to use run-on sentences for enthusiasm's sake). In this case, it so happened that part of our family vacation plan sounded less than exciting to me: two days at a certain theme park. And so began the deconstruction of my previous ideas...

Guess where we went...

A Nautical Narrative: Discovering Sea World

The Who:

The Author (me), Elise (big sister), Zoe (niece), Noel (dad)

Same crew, with Kay  (mom) in front. 

The What: Vacation fun times.
The When: Late September.
The Where: Sea World in Orlando, Florida.
The Why: We had never been there (or some of us hadn't) and they had very reasonable prices!

Here's the deal--I love roller coasters. I want excitement. I want to run around. I do not want to sit back and watch a dozen shows. The thought of it is terrible...except it turns out that in reality, the shows can be awesome. However, I didn't find out about this fact until something else in the park completely changed my mind. I'll be honest: it all started with the flamingos.

Just look at 'em! They might as well have been saying: "Welcome to Sea World, HayBoo. You're gonna love it."

Something fantastic that Sea World does is give you a free second day's ticket after you've bought your first. So, knowing that we would come back later in the week, we decided to devote the first day to shows. I rolled my eyes as we searched for Shamu's stadium. On the way, lo and behold, we found the Dolphin Nursery. I know this part makes me sound like such a girl, but is there anything more adorable than a dolphin playfully trying to get your attention? I think not. They're big showboaters, those dolphins. At first they were just swimming around barely popping their heads out of the water, but as more people gathered, they began to do little tricks and came right up next to the short wall we leaned against. If I had really tried, I probably could've reached out and touched them. For example, this little guy:

I call him Splashy.

My dad and Zoe watching the dolphins.

Once we got my mom's face out of the map for two seconds, we had a great time watching them play around.

Tell me this wouldn't change your mind about everything.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Awww....okay, moving on. The first show we actually saw was only about 15-20 minutes long. It was called "Pets Ahoy" and featured all sorts of creatures that had been saved and adopted from animal shelters: dogs, cats, ducks, doves, mice, ferrets, geese, a pig--and I'm not even sure if that was all of them. They were trained to do all kinds of cool tricks and the whole routine was synced up with music. Their timing was so impressive and the scenery was cool, too: a cartoonish beachfront town. Not only was the show fun to watch, but it made me happy to know that talented and adorable animals like those are being saved every day with programs like that one. Unfortunately we didn't really get any pictures/film, but I was able to find a video with examples of what they did in the show! Check it!

Next came the Shamu show. While this is the main attraction, I must say I didn't think it was the most impressive one. I think because of troubles in the past with trainers getting injured, they're not allowed to do much with the killer whales anymore. It was cool to see them leaping around and wagging their tales, though. Another thing to like about this show is the One Ocean theme. While the whales do their manoeuvres, images of marine life and waters of the world are projected on huge screens. There's also a somewhat cheesy but still entertaining "One Ocean" song to go with it.

Watching them leap in packs was a highlight, definitely!

It's amazing how high they can flip out of the water.

My mom and Zoe in front of (you guessed it!) Shamu Stadium.

Well, after that show we had a bit of time to kill. And what better way to kill time than riding the carousel? If I'm being honest, though, this carousel was an odd mix of cute and terrifying. My niece liked it just fine, but just call me old fashioned--I prefer to sit on a pretty pony than a jagged-toothed monster fish. (I sat on a Walrus, actually. I named him Warren)

See? Cute...then scary...then cute again.

As you can see, Zoe chose the scary one. It was like the scary-glowy fish Marlin and Dory encounter in Finding Nemo.

 

 

All right, back to the shows. Next up? "Blue Horizons"--so great we saw it both days we were in the park. There's a basic plot to it which makes it sort of like an oceanic musical. There's a princess, and a sky spirit, and a king of the dolphins or something. Basically, it involves a lot of awesome tricks involving the trainers and animals, some intense acrobatics, and birds of paradise flying right over your head!

This was cute.

Sweet, right?

My words do nothing to describe the performers flying through the air. And I even tried to YouTube it, but it's really exciting live, so that doesn't do it justice either. I just generally hate seeing shows at amusement parks, but I'd see this one again and again.

The last show we saw was "Clive and Seamore Take Pirate Island" at the Sea Lion and Otter Stadium. I'll give you a hint--Clive and Seamore are sea lions.

The set.

A humorous part of the show.

I have to admit, though the animals were truly nifty, my favorite part was this pirate mime who basically just made fun of the entire audience as they filtered in before the show started. The rest was great, too.

Apparently there's one more show (which is a musical in an indoor auditorium), but we didn't see it. Everything+the heat wore us out! I realized that there was so much to offer, that it'll take two blogs to describe it all. Much more awesome information to come (including some mysterious creatures of the deep I had never before heard of)...so stay tuned!

A Spot of Tea

A Quick Intro


Do you ever wish that you could spend an afternoon feeling like the Queen of England? Or maybe you're a fan of unbirthdays and the Mad Hatter. Either way, perhaps it's just a spot of tea you're missing. The place I'm about to describe to you is fairly magical for little princesses, old souls, and anglophiles alike. It's in the middle price range. Not dirt cheap, but not expensive. What can I say? You must pay for a little class. Oh...and it's in a little town called Woodstock, Georgia, a place full of elegant Southern charm right on the outskirts of Atlanta.

 

It looks like a cottage in a fairytale, right?

One Lump or Twenty-One?: My Birthday Brunch

The Who:

The Lovebirds: Leesie and Roberto (aka Elise and Rob)

Zany Zo-Bug (aka Zoe)

The Classy Columnist (aka me)

The What: A bit of sophisticated fun to kick off the festivities for my 21st birthday

The When: Friday September 16th, 2011

The Where: Tea Leaves and Thyme (Woodstock, Georgia)

The Why: My way of rebelling against the "Get wasted!" connotation of that 21st year and to remind myself that although I can legally drink, rent a hotel room, and, um, do other grownup stuff--I will maintain that childlike sense of wonder and fun. :)

The How: This is a fairly fancy place. I believe they generally prefer that you make reservations, as they can get booked otherwise.

This fantastic little tearoom is a place I've been going to since I was a kid. One of our dearest family friends lives in Woodstock and she just loves the custom of tea time. We knew if we were spending my birthday weekend in town, we'd have to make a visit to TL&T. Our reservation was for the brunchy hour of 11am. Rob, Elise, Zoe, and I got a bit dressed up and set off. The tearoom has always been in historic downtown Woodstock, but its current location is even cooler than the original: the Sam and Georgia Carpenter Dawson House, built in 1909. We were seated in a room named after Georgia. Next to her picture hung a caption stating that Sam and Georgia's children were born and raised in that very house. Maybe it's just me that's a history nerd, but I love knowing that I'm sitting in a place that is a big part of a town's legacy! (So much so that it is noted in a timeline here.) Another cool feature is that the proprietors of this establishment keep hats, furs, gloves, and shawls on hand for guests to play dress up (because, realistically, whether they're 5 or 50, girls just wanna have fun). We took advantage of that...

I've got my pinky out, and well, Zoe looks like the Queen of England.

Cheers, darling.

Nothing fancier than what appears to be a stuffed animal on your back...Um...Suuure.

Now, not only is it fancy-fun, Tea Leaves and Thyme has phenomenal food. You can take a little look at their menu here. We had the Full Afternoon Tea, which involved either a chicken salad croissant or a sundried tomato tartlet (I've had both--and I can't say which is better!), three different kind of real scones (not the same as the soggy sugary ones you get at corporate coffee shops) ((with lemon curd and a nice almondy-tasting whipped cream)), three kinds of delectable finger sandwiches, and a little plate of gloriously decadent desserts. Since it was my birthday, they gave me an extra little dessert bar with a candle in it (of course). (Too many parentheses?) Then of course, they have so many types of tea it's ridiculous: caffeinated, decaffeinated, fruity, spicy, hot, iced...We had some sort of peach tea. Mmm. And their seasonal Apple Spice which they automatically gave us before the order. It was the perfect Fall treat.

TL&T is the perfect place for special occasions. While I was there, there were three other birthday girls in the building at the same time. They really personalize it by giving you a name card and doing everything they can to make your time there unforgettable. Also, they have an adorable gift shop with things like awesomely eclectic handmade jewelry, tea things (of course), and books.

Do I sound overly zealous about this place? I probably do. I just get really excited about silly, girly, childlike things...shouldn't we all every once in awhile?

This picture means yes--yes, we ALL should.

So...one lump or two? :)