• Shamu and the gang will get into the “spirit” of Halloween with a new, not-too-scary celebration, SeaWorld’s Halloween Spooktacular, featuring festive family fun tonight, tomorrow and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 7:30 p.m.  SeaWorld’s walrus, sea lion and otter comedy team will star in a Halloween show called Clyde and Seamore’s Trick or Treat, and Sesame Street’s Countdown to Halloween musical will entertain the littlest guests. Other festive fun will include cookie decorating and photo opportunities with Halloween-costumed characters. 
• LEGOLAND California in Carlsbad is calling all monsters, mermaids, witches, robots and pirates to its Brick-or-Treat Party.  Tomorrow from 5-9 p.m., the family theme park will be a not-too-spooky Halloween haven featuring costume contests, nighttime trick-or-treating on the Brick-or-Treat Trail, live music and entertainment. Little ghosts and goblins can also enjoy activities like building glow-in-the-dark treats, a dance-off with special prizes for the best dancer and the Howler of the Hour contest for young guests who really want to scream. Families can also climb aboard a giant jack-o-lantern that is more than 7 feet wide, made of 22,000 DUPLO bricks and weighs 850 pounds.  
• Tonight at 8 p.m., Fiesta de Reyes in Old Town State Historic Park will kick off a fun, freaky evening with a Beetlejuice movie night under the stars.  Tim Burton’s famous “bio-exorcist” film will be projected on a big outdoor screen, and visitors are invited to bring a warm blanket and enjoy the movie with friends and family.  Admission is free. 
• Tonight and tomorrow Old Town State Historic Park will host hilarious ghost tours through the park at 6:30 and 7 p.m.  Lead by an unfortunately clueless ghost hunter, the tours will highlight plenty of ghosts, many of them real San Diegans who experienced tragic deaths in Old Town during the 1800s.  Tours meet at the Old Town Visitor Center on Twiggs Street, located at the entrance to the park.  Tickets are available at the Visitor Center for $10 or online for $8 plus a service fee. 
• Trick-or-treaters are also invited to visit the park from 4-6:30 p.m. on Saturday to collect goodies from the park’s participating shops and museums where resident shopkeepers are always dressed in period costume.  The haunting evening continues at 8 p.m. with a live story telling of Old Town’s Legend of Sleepy Hollow, occurring in the spooky yard behind the Seeley Stables on Old Town’s main plaza.  Both events are free. 
• From 5-8 p.m. today and Saturday, ghosts, goblins, pirates and princesses will gather at the San Diego Maritime Museum aboard the Star of India for ghostly lantern-led tours of the historic ship and hear eerie legends from the ship’s past. During the tours, costumed docents will share tales of how young John Campbell fell to his death from the rigging, how an Army Captain on the ship slit his throat and more creepy events that occurred aboard the historic vessel.  The museum will also host a carnival 11 a.m.-4 p.m. tomorrow with games, prizes, food and costume contests for parents and kids of all ages.  Lantern-led tours are included with the general museum admission; admission to the carnival is an additional $5 per person.

Tags: family, Halloween, legoland, maritime museum, old town, seaworld

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New Children's Museum pillow fight room! Yet another reason why I never want to grow up

Labor Day weekend is upon us, which unofficially marks the end of summer and the beginning of fall.  And while the transition of the seasons might go unnoticed in San Diego because our beach days and sunshine will last well into November (I’m not bragging, I’m just saying…), this weekend does mean “LAST CALL!” on some of San Diego’s summertime specialties:

1. This weekend, catch this year’s final celebration of  Summer Nights at SeaWorld with fireworks, live music, special animal shows like Shamu Rocks and Sea Lions Tonite and the award-winning dance show Riptide. The park will be open 9 a.m. – 11 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. on Monday. Note: It’s also the VERY LAST weekend to catch the Dolphin Discovery show before SeaWorld begins construction on a brand new dolphin show, Blue Horizons, coming in May 2010.
2. Spend your evenings exploring the San Diego Zoo’s Wild Animal Park during Park at Dark where you can see the park’s nocturnal creatures emerge, take a sunset tour on the Journey Into Africa tram and catch special summer shows. The park will be open from 9 a.m. – 8p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
3. Check out the Caras Silvestres celebration during Nighttime Zoo at the San Diego Zoo. Honoring the cultures of California and Central and South America, the Zoo will present live music, colorful dance performances and amazing shows with stilt walkers and exotic animals. The Zoo will be open from 9 a.m. – 9 p.m. on Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
4. Hurry over and place your bets at the Del Mar Racetrack for the last weekend of horse races. Races will be in full swing Saturday through Monday but I suggest you try your luck on Sunday when the country’s top horses compete in the $1 Million Pacific Classic, Del Mar’s richest and most prestigious race (and if you win big, you owe me). Later that day, following the last race, stop by the Reggae Festival with featured performances from Ziggy Marley and Nikka Costa; entrance to the concert is free with racetrack general admission tickets.
5. This Saturday, Sunday and Monday, The New Children’s Museum in downtown San Diego is celebrating the FINAL weekend of its first exhibition, childsplay, before they close in preperation for their new exhibition Animal Art, opening in October. So come on by for your last chance to jump in the pillow room, navigate through a two story maze and dance around in the Rain House. Note: Ziggy Marley will also make a special appearance at the museum on Saturday while he debuts his new children’s album, “Family Time.”

Tags: 5 to try, animals, del mar, downtown, labor day weekend, mission bay, seaworld, summer, things to do, what to do, wild animal park, zoo

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Bowl Game representative Laura delaMontaigne talks to the Fox 5 morning crew

Question of the day, what does wiener dog racing have to do with college football? Find out this Saturday at the 13th annual Wienerschnitzel Wiener Nationals at Qualcomm Stadium. The competition is actually a fund-raiser and awareness-building event for the Pacific Life Holiday Bowl & the San Diego County Credit Union Poinsettia Bowl games played in San Diego every December.

Early this morning fifteen hopeful wiener dogs and their owners held exhibition heats for the local Fox morning show. Many of the dogs looked better than they actually ran, all suited up with capes and even racing goggles.

The real action starts at 8:00am Saturday at Qualcomm Stadium. The 16 fastest dogs advance to the semi-finals which will be held during a Padres game at PETCO Park on September 1st.

If you think your dachshund has the goods, visit the Bowl Games Association website for entry details and register online.

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The Monument

On August 15 and 16, the National Park Service, in an effort to get across to us that our national parks are awesome, offered free admission into more than 100 national parks across the nation, and it just so happens that we have one right here in San Diego.

Cabrillo National Monument sits above the Point Loma shore where it is generally agreed Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, leading the first European expedition to explore what is now the west coast of the United States, landed his flagship the San Salvador in 1542.  (Cabrillo must have known he was in the right place when he climbed to the top to find this statue.)

It was his expedition that produced the first written description of the west coast of North America.  It would be another sixty years before anybody else would pay any attention to the region and, in 1913, President Woodrow Wilson would commemorate Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo with the national monument we all know and love today.

From this elevated spot in Point Loma, you can see San Diego — all of San Diego — on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other.  And what’s that landmass just to the south?  Why it’s Tijuana, Mexico!  How many national parks can show you a bay, an ocean, and a foreign country?  Take that, Yellowstone!

It is easy to stand on this spot and imagine yourself in Cabrillo’s shoes –- the ocean at your back, looking over that big bay to the land beyond, rich with mountains, coastal plains and promise.  Now imagine you’re wearing thigh-high boots and poofy shorts.  That’s what it is to be an explorer, near as I can figure.

The Intertidal Area

Much more than a monument, here you can:

• EXPLORE the tidepools and their unique ecosystem.
• HIKE the two-mile Bayside Trail.
• VISIT the historic Old Point Loma Lighthouse.
• CHECK OUT the bookstore.
• SEE the “Age of Exploration” exhibit in the visitor center.
• LISTEN to Park Ranger talks on Point Loma’s military history.

ATTENTION, KIDS! You can earn your Junior Ranger badge from Cabrillo National Monument.  Just ask for a Junior Ranger activity at the visitor center.  After you have completed the program in the park, you will receive the Park Ranger badge and oath from an actual Park Ranger or volunteer.  If that’s not cool, I don’t wanna know what cool is!

Cabrillo National Monument is open every day of the year, from 9:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.  Regular entrance fees are $5 per vehicle, and $3 per pedestrian, bicyclist or motorcyclist.

Tags: cabrillo national monument, kids, national park, outdoors, things to do, what to do

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“The Sky Tonight”

We all know about one star that everybody comes to San Diego to enjoy (the sun, folks) but what about the billions of other stars that get virtually no play here in the city where there are too many lights at night to allow us access to the heavens?  (I know it’s a burning question.)  For me, summer does not officially begin until I can get a good look at that Summer Triangle so, being a resident, I don’t think twice about making the half-hour drive east on Highway 8 — at least as far as Descanso, just east of Viejas Casino — for a proper night sky.  But once a month, a clear night sky is within anyone’s view right in the heart of the city.

On the first Wednesday of every month, Balboa Park’s Reuben H. Fleet Science Center presents “The Sky Tonight,” a 60-minute planetarium show in the newly updated IMAX theater.  There, you can sit back in comfort and see a truly unobstructed view of our cosmic neighborhood as one local astronomer or another leads you on a tour of the sky that night — presenting the season’s constellations as well as any number of fascinating astronomical topics.  (On Wednesday, September 2, get to know the fall constellations.)

Stargazing on the Prado courtesy of the SDAA (Flash photography is not a friend to stargazing!)

And there is something here for everyone, including the astronomically illiterate (and I mean that affectionately).  Of course no one is astronomically illiterate after the show.  “The Sky Tonight” is generally recommended for ages 5 and up because of the material and the darkness required for a planetarium show, but you know your little stargazer better than anyone.  (My son was 2½ when he attended for the first time.  I was prepared to leave if things got out of hand, but it worked out all right.  Just use your best judgment, moms and dads.)

There are two shows on planetarium nights – one at 7:00 P.M. and one at 8:00 P.M. — and they do tend to fill up.  If I were you, I would arrive 30 minutes prior to showtime to buy tickets, or buy them online.  If you do happen to miss out on tickets, don’t worry — the San Diego Astronomy Association sets up a telescope outside on the Prado for free public viewing on planetarium show nights, weather permitting.

Want to spend more than a measly 60 minutes exploring the heavens?  How about three nights?

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: astronomy, balboa park, camping, Julian, outdoors, starfest, stargazing, things to do, what to do

(3 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Hop aboard the Pilot during Sailor Days!

Did you ever want to be a sailor?

Well, beginning July 15, you’ll get your chance because Wednesdays are Sailor Days this summer at the Maritime Museum on San Diego Bay. 

Every Wednesday through August 26, the historic Star of India and all the other ships in the museum’s collection will offer hands-on activities designed to give you a taste of the sailing life.

Adults and kids can make rope for sailing, move cargo around the decks, raise and lower the huge sails, tie sailor’s knots, climb through a steam engine and much more.

Kids are also invited to take part in a scavenger hunt through the ships, searching for fun historic maritime facts and then choosing a prize from the museum’s treasure chest.

The best part?  Sailor Days activities are included with regular museum admission – $14 for adults and $8 for kids. 

Plus, when you book tickets online in advance and choose the Discovery package, you’ll get a free one-hour historic boat cruise on San Diego Bay aboard the Pilot. (You also have the option to purchase tickets at the door and add the boat tour for $3.)

Tags: deals, downtown, maritime museum, san diego bay, summer

(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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Jump on these summer deals at SeaWorld!

Summer vacation is officially here and SeaWorld has awesome deals to save you money when you visit Shamu and friends:

• score an adult ticket at the kids’ price and get a second visit free
• AAA members show your membership card and get an adult ticket at the kids’ price and a kids’ ticket at half price
• if you live in the area, spring for the SeaWorld Fun Cardand get free repeat admission to SeaWorld through the end of 2009
• and, especially appropriate as we head into the Independence weekend, the Here’s to the Heroesprogram provides free single-day admission to SeaWorld service members and as many as three direct dependents. 

When you visit this summer through Aug. 30, keep your fingers crossed as you enter the gates.  One lucky group is chosen each day to be the SeaWorld VIP Guests of the Day and win free tickets to the Dolphin Encounter, Quick Queue passes for all the rides, reserved seats at all stadium shows and an extra special shout out during Shamu’s show.

Tags: deals, seaworld, summer

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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Soaking it in on our own private beach.

Every smart husband circles two dates on the calendar each year. Not the Super Bowl and your fantasy baseball draft, I’m talking about the smart husbands.

Those two dates would be your wedding anniversary & your wife’s birthday, cavemen!

I am usually pretty good at lining up great getaways and dinners, but this year I outdid myself and you can too.

I surprised my bride with a weekend birthday getaway at the La Jolla Beach & Tennis Club this year and she could not have been more thrilled.

You can book a room like a regular hotel, but most guests are Club members who pay for some sweet conveniences. Perks like a private beach, tennis courts, & a 9-hole executive golf course. This place is so exclusive that they actually manicure the beach every morning before the sun comes up. The sand is raked, chairs are arranged and staff is at the ready to get you pretty much anything you need.

The group next to us put their whole setup, chairs, tables, reading material, snacks etc a little to close to shore & when the tide swept in the staff raced to the rescue and pulled all the iPods and Louis Vuitton bags to safety. We saw the staff bring out bocce ball sets, umbrellas & beach toys to anyone who simply asked for them.

The coolest thing you can do is have them bring you a BBQ ready for grillmaster wanna-be’s to make dinner for the family. Charcoal, and even all the ingredients for dinner are right there for you.

The great thing is that you don’t have to be a high roller to stay there. There are more specials than ever right now, and if you book off peak season (winter, spring and fall) you can get great deals too.

The Beach Club is a fabulous way to enjoy the beach a little more exclusively than most. Right next door is the La Jolla Shores Hotel which is where we stayed for our anniversary last year and had a great time.

The only drawback now is setting the bar too high, what am I going to do next year?

(1 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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A Fantastic Father's Day with a Beluga Whale at SeaWorld.

Father’s Day is coming up.  Are you looking for an unforgettable gift idea?

If you’re heading to San Diego, consider SeaWorld’s Wild Arctic Interaction.

This amazing experience begins with a behind-the-scenes tour to meet SeaWorld’s enormous Pacific walruses, playful harbor seals and polar bears.  Then, Dad will wiggle into a wet suit and step into 55-degree, Arctic-like water to hang with the beluga whales. 

During the interaction, he’ll get to touch, feed and give the whale training hand signals that cue behaviors like showing off the birdlike vocalizations — that have earned the species the nickname “sea canary.”  Maybe, he’ll even get a kiss! 

The program costs $170 plus park admission and includes wet suits, booties, lockers, changing facilities and showers.  Advance registration is required.

Tags: animals, father's day, mission bay, seaworld

(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)

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ShermansTravel, the renown online source for deals and travel advice, just announced their list of the country’s top ten places to celebrate July 4th.  Guess what?

The Big Bay Boom...loud and proud!

San Diego is the only place on the whole West Coast on the list.  In fact, with the exception of a little place called Mount Rushmore, we’re the only place West of the Mississippi to make the cut.

The experts at ShermansTravel called out our awesome beaches and fantastic fireworks.  There are fun things to do and lots of colorful displays of American pride all over town during the Independence weekend.  Here’s a few of my faves:

• The Big Bay Boom fireworks display over San Diego Bay is the biggest in the region with great viewing spots all along the bay front and cruises out on the water. 
• Smokey Robinson will perform July 4 at the San Diego County Fair at the Del Mar Fairgrounds before the 9 p.m. fireworks show and rides stay open until midnight. 
• Over the Independence weekend on July 3, 4 and 5, SeaWorld’s Summer Nights fireworks over Mission Bay will be set to patriotic music for a bigger, longer celebration. 
• In Carlsbad at LEGOLAND California, the Red, White and Boom celebration will include fun family games, a performance by kiddie favorites The Jumpitz and a 8:30 p.m. fireworks show. 
• On the Embarcadero on San Diego Bay on July 3, 4 and 5, the San Diego Symphony will present a Star Spangled Pops concert each evening at 7:30 p.m.
• It’s a picture-perfect party on July 4th in Coronado with a parade down Orange Avenue, concert in Spreckels Park and fireworks over Glorietta Bay.  

Tags: coronado, fireworks, in the news, july 4, legoland, san diego bay, san diego county fair, seaworld, summer, symphony

(1 votes, average: 4.00 out of 5)

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